Worth Protecting
by Reprise I
Summary: With the arrival of someone new, Naruto becomes dissatisfied with his level of strength. In order to keep her safe, he'll need to become a whole lot stronger. With a burning desire to get stronger, a motivation of steel and a promise of a lifetime; Watch as Naruto goes on his journey to become the greatest shinobi he can be. Naruto x Yugito. Rated M just to be safe.
1. A Fateful Encounter

**The name's Reprise and despite me creating this fan-fiction account only recently I've actually been apart of the community in a way for quite awhile. When I say this, I mean, a close friend of mine had a increasingly popular fanfiction story called Worth Protecting with a Naruto x Yugito pairing. He went by quite a few names (Seraph's Embrace, Albo215, etc.), but anyways, he only got 6 chapters done and despite rebooting after some time to try and get back into it, he just didn't have the time. A lot of personal problems he's dealing with plus college has not left him much free time to himself.**

**He really enjoyed writing the fan-fiction even though he wasn't really good at it, so I actually was helping him co-write the fanfiction and I was going to continue until he was able to stand up by himself, but I guess the time never came since he got so busy :/. Well, anyways, I was talking to him a few days ago and he brought up this story and thought how great it could have been if he had continued it. I ended up saying something about needing a way to practice my writing and about how i had a little too much free time to myself and that ended up to me agreeing to take over the story and continue it.**

**So, that's a little introduction to myself I guess, so I'll just post up his original first 6 chapters and everything else after that will be me, Reprise. So if you notice a difference in writing style that may be the reason.**

**Anyways, I'll do my best and make this great and I hope you guys enjoy it.**

* * *

**Worth Protecting**

**Chapter 1: A Fateful Encounter ****_  
_**

It was the dead of night when Uzumaki Naruto found himself wandering the streets of Konoha. During the day, the streets of Konohagakure were teeming with people, but late at night, the streets were scarce of life. The streets were only lit by the bright moon and starry sky above and the sound of crickets chirping filled the otherwise silent night. Naruto enjoyed walking these streets at night; It helped him feel more at peace despite the inner turmoil within him.

Naruto was a young, eleven year old boy, with spiky blond hair, bright blue eyes and slightly cherub-like face. He was wearing an orange tracksuit with blue on the upper shoulders area as well as around the waist, a white swirl with a tassel on the left side, a red swirl on the back, a large white collar, orange pants, blue sandals, and a pair of goggles on his forehead. Perhaps the most prominent feature about the young blond, were the three whisker marks that ran horizontally across each cheek, giving him the appearance of a fox or cat.

All of the villagers in Konohagakure despised Naruto's very existence for reasons that the young boy did not even know. No matter where he went the small blond would be subject to glares and sneers sent his way, and when they weren't looking at him with hate filled eyes they were ignoring him, as if his very existence was beneath their notice. It had been like this for as long as he could remember, and never ceased to make him feel worthless.

Despite this, or perhaps in spite of it, the way people ignored him only fueled his desire to become Hokage, the leader of his village even more, so that the villagers that resent him could become people that look up to him and acknowledge him as somebody who wants to help his village.

A small, genuine smile came to his face as he took a deep breath of fresh air through his nose and exhaled through his mouth. Naruto smiled all the time no matter the situation, but to those who knew Naruto well enough could tell that it was nothing but a mask to hide how negatively he truly felt. The only times he smiled genuinely anymore was when he hung out with Teuchi, Ayame and the elderly Hokage.

Naruto had been in the Shinobi Academy for many years, so you might have expected Naruto to have made lot of friends. In truth, Naruto only got along with Shikamaru and Choji. Everybody else either disliked him, didn't care about him, or were too shy to approach him.

Naruto placed his hand on the back of his head as he looked up at the starry sky, making out any constellations that he knew of. When he looked back down, he noticed he was in the front of Konohagakure's main entrance gate.

Naruto had contemplated a few times whether leaving a village that hated him would be a smart decision or not. In the end, he decided to remain in his village and continue to follow his dream of becoming Hokage no matter what the obstacle.

Naruto listened to the light snoring of the two shinobi that were assigned to keep watch over the gate, but they had once again fallen asleep at their posts since Konoha had been at peace for years. Heck, it was so late the night that the ANBU that had been stationed to watch over Naruto had also decided to call it a night.

Naruto was about to walk away and return home when he noticed something out of the corner of his eyes. Had it not been for his enhanced sense of sight, he would have most likely mistaken it for a bump in the road, but at closer inspection, it turned out to be a person. Naruto could not make out the gender or condition of the person at that moment since there was a large, tan cloak over the person's form.

Naruto frowned at this and decided to help the person as he ran up to the figure's side and knelt down. "Hey! Are you okay?" Naruto questioned as he shook he or she, with that damn cloak it was impossible to tell. After getting no response he frowned and tried again. "Oi! Are you listening to me! Wake up!"

Once again he got nothing. Naruto sat back on his haunches and adopted a thinking pose, the whisker marks on his cheeks stretching as his eyes scrunched up, giving him a very vulpine appearance.

After a few moments of thought, he decided to flip the person over onto their back, so he could get a closer look at them. It was still hard to tell, the persons face was covered in so much dirt, grime and dried blood, but he could vaguely make out the features of a girl.

Of course, at the moment all he saw was the blood.

"Oh my god! She's bleeding! What do I do! What do I do!" Naruto began running around the unconscious girl in a mild panic, his mind in disarray at seeing someone injured. "I should call Jii-chan! No – wait, he's probably asleep. I should call the ANBU – ah damn it! They're probably asleep too! The hospital?"

Naruto shivered, he hated hospitals.

_'Ok, calm down Naruto, just calm down,' _it took a moment, but eventually the young blond managed to calm himself down enough so that he could begin to think logically.

Or at least, as logically as the mind of Uzumaki Naruto could think.

_'Okay, so there's a girl and she's lying on the side of the road, injured. I can't call Jii-chan and most of the ninja in the village have gone to sleep.' _He looked over at the ninja in the booth at the front gates, still snoring.

Point proven.

_'And I don't even think the hospitals open so that's a no go, even if I wanted to go there.'_Of course, his hatred of hospitals meant there was no way he was going to head there and he was sure as hell this girl wouldn't want to wake up there either.

Honestly, who would want to wake up to bland white walls and those mean idiots in the white uniforms?

_'I could take her to my place and fix her up,' _the blond frowned. The idea had merit but he wasn't sure if he was comfortable having a complete stranger in his house. Then again, he couldn't just leave her in the middle of the road either.

Besides, wasn't the Hokage supposed to look after his people?

Looking down at the girl he sighed. _'My apartment it is.'_

Steeling himself, Naruto bent down lifted the figure and positioned her on his back. He thought about calling for help, but decided against it. Nobody would answer his plead for help, so there was no point in him wasting his breath. Naruto walked quickly, adjusting to the new weight he had to carry before he began to sprint.

Over at the gate, within the booth, one of the Chunin guards woke up.

"Hey, Izumo. Did you hear something?" the spiky-headed Chunin with the bandage across his nose asked, mildly shaking his partner to wake him up.

The one known as Izumo woke up with a start. "Huh? Eh? What? What is it? What?"

"I was asking if you heard something?"

"Huh? Heard something?" Izumo looked at his partner, tilting his head from side to side as he strained his ears. "Nope! Nothing!"

"Good, me neither."

And with that, both Chunin went back to sleep.

It only took him five minutes to reach his house. The blond academy student stopped in front of his door and turned the handle slightly, then kicked the door opened. Flicking on the lights, the young blond walked to his bed and lightly placed the girl on the bed. Naruto had felt a thick liquid go down his arm a minute or two ago, but now in the lit room, Naruto could see that the liquid was, in fact, blood.

Naruto slowly removed the drenched cloak off of the young girl and placed it on a chair in the corner for it to dry. This was when Naruto was finally able to get a good look at the girl he had saved. The girl was about his age, slightly taller than him and had peach skin that still showed through the grime and dried blood that seeped from the numerous small wounds from her arms and legs. 'I guess I should bandage up those wounds,' Naruto thought to himself as he went to retrieve a first-aid kit.

Naruto returned shortly with the first-aid kit that contained tools to be used from the smallest of cuts to some of the more grievous of wounds. It may come as a shock to know that Naruto knew first-aid. In the academy he was known as the dobe, due to the fact that he was at the bottom of his class. A combination of having to deal with the hatred of several teachers who did their utmost to ignore him, his dislike of lectures, an inability to sit still due to his high level of energy and his penchant for ditching class to play pranks on people had caused his grades to plummet.

There was also the fact that he was something of an idiot. Not exactly dumb, but definitely not the sharpest kunai of the set.

However, if there was one thing Naruto did know how to do, it was dress peoples wounds. Through out his life the young blond had gotten more then his fair share of cuts, scrapes and bruises from the various pranks he had pulled and the times he had trained.

Though he would admit he pulled more pranks then he did train.

Naruto only removed rubbing alcohol and bandages from the kit since it was all that would be needed and packed everything else away. Naruto then proceeded to carefully pick up the blonde's arm and chose the wound he would begin with. He lightly dabbed at the wound, watching her cringe lightly in her sleep before he placed a bandage over the cut.

Naruto repeated this process until he had completely finished. Placing what remained of the rubbing alcohol and bandages back into the first-aid kit, he stood up and returned the small box where he had found it. Naruto returned to the girl and scanned her sleeping, bandaged form.

Millions of questions went through Naruto's mind, 'Where is she from? Why is she hurt? What's she like? Will she be nice? Will she be mean?' These questions and more zoomed through Naruto's mind and were only interrupted when a long yawn escaped him.

Naruto decided it was time to call it a night. He thought about where he should sleep. Would it be okay if he slept in his bed? Probably not, and besides, she was injured and she deserved her own place to sleep.

With that in mind, Naruto walked to the closet at the corner of the room and retrieved a futon, a spare pillow and a blanket in case it got cold during the night. Placing the futon on the ground, Naruto put the pillow at the end of it and placed the blanket by its side. Naruto was too tired to change clothes so he laid down on the futon and instantly fell asleep as soon as his head hit his pillow.

* * *

**(The Next Morning)**

Small streams of light passed through the blinds and shined in the sleeping Naruto's eyes. He tried his best to keep them closed, but his efforts were fruitless and with a reluctant sigh he stood up. Naruto took a minute or two to stretch, popping a few joints in the process before going to the sink and splashing his face with cold water to wake himself up fully.

'What do I do now? I can't not tell anybody about her and Jii-chan would ask questions soon, so I should tell him at least,' Naruto thought to himself as he looked at the girl still fast asleep on his bed.

Deciding on a course of action for later, Naruto went into the kitchen and began to prepare breakfast for himself and for the blonde just in case she woke up soon. As Naruto prepared breakfast, his thoughts wandered off to the thought of him finally graduating from the academy and going on dangerous mission.

Naruto snapped out of his contemplation to see that the eggs he had boiled were finished. Naruto wished he could have better food and a lot more of it since what he had made was barely enough to feed him, let alone the both of them. Naruto distributed the eggs so that he got a barely anything and gave the sleeping girl the most; he would just go to Ichiraku Ramen later.

Naruto quickly scarfed down his portion before looking over at the blonde girl, wondering if it was okay to leave her by herself. Naruto didn't want her to wake up and have her simply leave the house since the chances of him finding her again would be very slim without him even knowing her name. Naruto decided that he would go talk to the Hokage about this girl, but as incentive to possibly have her stay here just in case she woke up, he walked over to her bed and placed the breakfast on the drawer at the side of the bed which now included a glass of orange juice. If she saw the food, then she might see that she was in the house of somebody that wouldn't cause her any harm.

Naruto got ready to leave when he heard the blond girl stir in her sleep before watching her sit up in the bed. When she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was Naruto's face and as her first instinct mandated, she slapped him across the face sending him across the room. "Who are you and where am I?" the girl demanded, standing on the bed, having been frightened by her new surroundings and this new stranger.

"Is that how you go treating somebody that takes you off the street, fixes you up and gives you their bed to sleep in!" Naruto shouted back in anger. That slap didn't really hurt, but it stung and to him, it showed an ungratefulness for everything he had done.

The girl blinked twice at what the young blond boy said before she looked down at herself to see that all the wounds she had were bandaged and she was standing in the only bed in the square apartment and then she looked to her right to see a handful of hard-boiled eggs. It was safe to say that the blonde felt extremely sorry for hitting Naruto like she did. "I'm sorry," the blond-haired girl apologized sincerely as she sat back down on the bed, looking away in embarrassment.

Naruto was a little surprised to hear somebody actually apologize to him. "It's fine. It's my fault for surprising you like that," Naruto assured her as he sat at the edge of the bed, picking up the tray with her breakfast and placing it on her lap. The famished girl looked at it, than up at Naruto to see if he was sure about giving her food only to be greeted by a reassuring close-eyed grin.

"You were pretty beat up when I found you, but I brought you to my apartment and I fixed you up. How are you feeling?" Naruto asked the girl. The girl stopped eating for a moment as she pulled away one of the bandages to show that the wound underneath had already closed.

"Wow! That's so cool! That's something you and I have in common. I heal pretty fast too!" Naruto stated with a smile on his face, receiving a small smile from the blonde at the young boy's loud and childish personality.

"I guess I should really thank you for helping me like you did," the young girl thanked the young blond who scratched the back of his head in his embarrassed habit as he waved it off.

"You really don't need to thank me. I wouldn't be able to turn my back on somebody who needs help," Naruto told her modestly as he laughed. She smiled a little wider as she noticed that he wasn't just loud and childish, but could be slightly more mature if he wanted to.

"Do you know where I am?" the girl questioned as she continued eating, Naruto looking at her curiously, not seeing how she could not know where she was.

Nonetheless, he answered her question. "Right now, your at my apartment in Konohagakure. Where are you from?" the blonde's eyes widened slightly at how far she was from home before deciding to tell Naruto where she did come from.

"I'm from Kumogakure," the traveling girl revealed, Naruto gaining a questioning look on his face as he had never heard of Kumogakure before.

"Where's Kumogakure?" Naruto questioned the girl as she sweatdropped at the young boy not knowing such a basic piece of geography.

"Konohagakure is in Hi no Kuni to the south while Kumogakure is in the Kaminari no Kuni in the far north-east. They're extremely far from each other and it would take weeks to travel the distance," the young girl explained as Naruto tried to draw a mental map in his head, but only succeeded in making two dots very apart from each other.

"No wonder your so hungry," Naruto commented at hearing the time it took to go from Konoha to Kumo, but the blond-haired girl misinterpreted Naruto.

"Are you calling me fat?" the female demanded in a threatening tone. No women in the entire world wanted to be considered fat and all the men in the world knew this no matter what the age.

Naruto waved his hands in front of him innocently as he spoke quickly, "No! Of course not! I was just saying that going from Kumogakure to Konohagakure is a long trip and you must not have eaten a lot!" The blond-haired girl's expression went soft again as she lightly giggled at Naruto's reaction as he sighed in relief.

Naruto slowly stood up from the bed and picked up the tray from the teen's lap and brought it to the sink before coming back as he spoke, "I'm sorry that I can't offer you more since I've only had to make enough food for one."

"'For one'? What do you mean? What about your parents?" the girl questioned as Naruto walked back to her bedside.

"I don't have any, but that doesn't stop me! I work hard every single day to get stronger and I will become the Hokage one day!" Naruto asserted in his own way with a smile as he pumped a fist in the air. The girl felt bad that she brought up his parents, but found his answer and the way he said it interesting. It brought a smile to her face to see somebody so lively after being on the road for so long.

"I would ask about your parents, but since they're not with you-," Naruto stopped in mid-sentence in surprise. The sentence seemed to leave his lips before he could think about what he was saying.

"You think they're dead, right?" the girl inquired finished Naruto's question with a deadpan expression Naruto nodding as he apologized again.

"My parents passed away when I was a little girl from a fatal disease... They were two of the most powerful shinobi in Kumogakure and I was proud to be their daughter," the orphan girl spoke in a sad voice. Naruto felt like the ass this time for bringing it up.

"Oh, I'm sorry I brought it up," Naruto apologized, the female nodding before silence reined over the room once again. Naruto then observed that the blonde seemed to be having a little trouble keeping her eyes open out of exhaustion.

"You look tired so you should go to sleep," Naruto suggested, the feisty girl immediately refusing as she tried to stand up only to be lightly pushed back by Naruto.

"I have to go talk to somebody and I'll be right back, but can you promise me something?" Naruto inquired of the girl who nodded and waited for Naruto to speak.

"I want you to promise me that you won't leave until I come back," Naruto spoke with an underlying hopefulness. He never really had a real friend and she seemed to becoming his first. He didn't want to let go of a new friend yet. Unknowing to him, the runaway felt the same way since Naruto was the first person she met in this new village and was incredibly nice to her.

"I promise," the blond-haired girl promised with a firm nod and a smile, Naruto thanking her as he opened the door, waved one last good-bye and left. The violet-eyed girl was about to lay back down and go to sleep when Naruto came bursting through the door again with a blush on his face.

"I can't believe I forgot!" Naruto shouted as he went through the doorway and right to the blonde who was laying on the bed as he outstretched his hand.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki! What's your?" Naruto questioned, his face red from embarrassment that he had forgotten to ask for such a basic piece of information. The girl went slightly red at forgetting this as well as she answered his question, shaking his hand.

"Yugito Nii."

* * *

Naruto opened the doors of the Hokage Residence and walked in as the receptionist greeted him, "Good morning, Naruto-kun. How can I help you?"

Naruto smiled as he greeted the receptionist before telling her his request, "I want to talk with Jii-chan about something really important!"

After the initial, light scolding from the receptionist at Naruto talking about the Hokage so informally, she spoke with Hiruzen Sarutobi over the intercom and Naruto was then sent up.

Sarutobi smiled as he puffed away on his pipe, enjoying the early morning as he sat behind his desk. The Sandaime Hokage was an aging man in his late sixties, with spiky gray hair and a short goatee. He had three wrinkles under each eye, as well as more running along his face and several liver-spots, the signs of old age taking their toll on him. Despite this, Sarutobi Hiruzen continued his duty as the Hokage, ensuring that his village was kept safe from threats both outside and inside of it's walls.

It was looking to be a very beautiful day, there was no paperwork for the moment, being so early in the morning, and so the aging Hokage was able to just relax.

"Haa... nothing beats starting the day with a good smoke," Hiruzen sighed in content, holding his pipe in one hand while he blew out smoke rings. As he continued smoking from his pipe, the Sandaime Hokage turned around in his seat and looked out at the village below.

The sun was just beginning to rise over the horizon, painting the village in bright oranges and reds. It looked like the village was on fire. It was a beautiful sight, and one of the many reasons Hi No Kuni, the country in which Konoha was situated in was called the Land of Fire.

"And it looks like it's going to be another peaceful day too."

BANG!

"Oi! Ojisan, I've got something I want to talk to you about!"

Looks like he spoke to soon.

Sarutobi sighed. Putting out his pipe, the Sandaime set it down on the side and turned his chair to look at the rambunctious blond that had just barged into his office. There was only one person who had the tact, specifically the complete lack there of, that he would not only enter his office in such a way, but also call him old man in the process.

"What can I do for you today, Naruto-kun?" asked Sarutobi with a genial smile. While the boy may be annoying, the old Sandaime always spared some time for the blond, and in truth felt partially responsible for him.

While the rest of the village may not treat Naruto like the hero he deserved to be, Sarutobi always strived to do his best for the boy.

"There's something important I need to talk to you about," Naruto said, a look of utmost seriousness on his face. Serious for Naruto at least.

"Oh, and what is it that you wish to discuss?"

Naruto blinked, his mind processing the word discuss as he didn't know that word. Eventually he shrugged, putting the word into the back of his mind and telling the Hokage what he came to talk about. "Yesterday I found this girl and –"

"Found this girl?" Sarutobi interrupted. "Don't you mean 'met' this girl?"

"No, found," Naruto said, giving the old man a stubborn look, his arms crossed and his chin jutting out in childish obstinacy.

"And what do you mean by found?" questions Sarutobi, raising an eyebrow.

"Well she was uncon... uncon..."

"Unconscious?"

"Yeah that," Naruto nodded his head and continued. "Anyways, I found her on the side of the road, injured and unconscious and decided to take her back home and give her some first aid."

"I see..." Hiruzen said, stroking his beard in thought. It was very rare for someone to turn up unconscious and injured in his village. With all of the ninja he had patrolling and keeping the peace crimes and the like were very rare. Not to say they didn't happen, but they only happened once in a blue moon. "And what do you know about this girl?"

"Her names Nii Yugito! And she's from Kumo... Kuma... um..."

"Kumogakure?"

"Yeah that!"

Sarutobi frowned. A girl showing up in his village in the middle of the night, injured, was rare enough. An injured girl who came all the way from Kumogakure and managed to slip in during the night was something that had never happened before. For a shinobi, Kumo was around several weeks of traveling, for a civilian it was around two months. And due to the strained relationship Konoha had with the Hidden Lightning Village, someone coming from Kumo to here was very rare, with only a few merchants traveling between the villages.

All these thoughts came and went within the Sandaime's mind in less then a second as he looked at the blond in thought. "And what is it you wish from me regarding this girl?"

"Can she stay?" The answer was not only immediate but entirely expected. Hiruzen had already figured out more or less what Naruto was going to ask, and had even come up with an answer.

"For now," Sarutobi replied. Naruto opened his mouth, and the Sandaime could easily sense the boy was about to complain. He quickly intervened before the boy could say anything. "I am not saying she cannot stay, however, as Hokage I cannot rule out the possibility that she is a possible enemy ninja sent here for some notorious purpose."

It wasn't as rare as one might think for young ninja to be sent on infiltration missions into enemy territory as spies or assassins. Who would suspect a child could be a trained killer?

Not counting some people who were legendary for being child prodigies.

"How could you say that!" Naruto exploded. "She was injured when I found her! It's obvious she's not –"

"She could be faking it, Naruto-kun," Sarutobi interrupted the boys rant. "There are many ninja in this world who have graduated at an age as young as you, some even younger. As Hokage it is my duty to insure that it remains protected from all threats."

Naruto couldn't argue with that. The moment Sarutobi had brought up his duty as Hokage the blond was cut short. Being someone who wanted to be Hokage himself, the young boy would never say anything that might slight the title of Hokage.

"So she can't stay?" asked Naruto, sounding depressed.

"I didn't say that," Sarutobi said, making the blond look up. "I merely said I must ensure that she is not a threat before I allow her citizenship. I will need to speak with one of my shinobi, and he will interview her and ensure that she is not a threat to the village, after wards, if everything checks out, I will simply have her fill out some forms that will make her a citizen of Konoha."

"Oh..."

"Now, it will take a while to set up the interview, the ninja I have in mind is currently busy with something I have him doing. It will be about two days before the interview takes place, in that time I will allow you to show her around Konoha," it would also allow him to observe the girl before the interview and help determine whether she was a threat. "How does that sound?"

"Great!" Naruto said. "I'll tell Yugito right away! Thanks Ojisan!"

Sarutobi watched as Naruto ran out of the room. When the door closed he pressed a button on his intercom and spoke into a small microphone. "Miss Kaizuki, please inform Inoichi-san that I wish to see him at his earliest convenience."

"Right away, Hokage-Sama," came the voice from the speaker system.

Turning the intercom off, Sarutobi opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out a small, crystal orb. He set it on a pedestal and ran through a few hand seals, activating a jutsu within the orb.

The orb took on a blue glow briefly, before an image appeared inside, one of Naruto running through the streets, a grin stretched across his face.

"Now, it's time to find out more about this miss Nii Yugito."

* * *

**So just leave a review if you got a question, criticism or even if its just a compliment or comment. I know that a lot of readers who browse fanfiction stories usually choose to read the ones with the most reviews and length so reviews are actually a lot more important to popularity than common belief. Anyways, I'll just release these chapters 1 a day so that all of the old chapters will be out by the end of the week.**

**I will try to release a chapter every week or so. If i know in advance that it'll take longer I'll leave a warning.**

**So, once again, thanks for reading and stay tuned. First 6 chapters are coming out rapid-fire**

**This is Reprise. Signing out. See ya tomorrow.**


	2. Yugito Nii

**In a way of honoring, Seraph's Embrace, I'll be continuing his author's note traditions:**

**redlox2:** Yeah, that's basically the plan. I'll be putting these first 6. one a day. And once i run out of the old stuff, it'll be a week (maybe slightly longer) in between the next updates.

**The Failing Shadow: **I'll send him your regards and after reading your comment, I've decided to continue this little tradition of his. I'll also be responding to the reviewers such as yourself and if you have anything you want to PM me about. Feel completely free to and I'll respond as soon as possible.

**friaku **& **Tyber Zahn: **I'm glad I am able to bring back something enjoyable for you guys! Just a bit of information, the first arc (9 chapters) was actually done by Seraph back when he was writing it, so I'll be following the outline for the 3 chapters I myself will be writing(6-9). Chapters 10 and ongoing will be my ideas.

**Thanks to all of you that have returned to Worth Protecting and I appreciate the kind words and the time you took into reviewing a chapter you've probably already seen quite a few times**

**Thanks once again, and I enjoy the refresher.**

* * *

**Worth Protecting**

**Chapter 2: Yugito Nii **_**  
**_

Yugito awoke to the bright light streaming in through the window. Her eyes fluttered open briefly before shutting them again when the midday sun's rays hit her eyes and burned her retina. She rolled over onto her face, away from the light, then opened her eyes again. A few moments later, after letting her eyesight adjust, Yugito Nii pushed herself into a sitting position.

She looked around the room, remembering that this was Naruto's bedroom. Thinking along those lines brought a bit of a blush as she had never been in a males room, or anybody else's for that matter. The bedroom was very basic, aside from the bed she was resting in there was a large poster of the Konoha Leaf symbol behind it. To her immediate left was a potted plant, a small palm tree that was bred indoors. A glance off to the side she saw a window that showed a perfect view of the famous Hokage Monument, the mountain that had the four Hokage's carved onto it. On the other side was a basic night stand with an old, orange alarm clock. Over on the opposite side of the room was a large dresser made of a lighter wood then the night stand, and next to that was a full body mirror leaning against the wall. There was also a sliding glass door on the opposite side of the door leading out of the room that led to a balcony. She could see the steel railings bordering it and a pair of slippers sitting off to the side.

The room itself was made up of light green walls, worn and faded with several cracks on them. A calender was hanging on one side of the wall, and there were a few small posters with various kanji on them, she even saw one next to the palm tree with a cup of steaming ramen on it. How weird was that? The lower third of the wall was made of up tiled wood, there were a few stains that came with age but other then that it looked well kept. The ceiling, like the walls, were green in color and the floor was made of wooden paneling in a light red color. Yugito thought the place looked kind worn and aged, but it was obvious that Naruto took decent care of the place.

Letting the sheet fall off of her body, she got off the bed, bare feet touching the floor as she stood up and stretched for a moment. However, as she stretched a retched stench hit her overly sensitive nose. Her nose crinkled in disgust, and it took her a moment to realized that the smell was coming from her. This was something Yugito realized she should have expected. Having been on the run for nearly three months, she'd had very few chances to bath, the last time being about three weeks ago. Obviously, she was going to be dirty and smelly.

_'Naruto said he had to go speak to someone, and since he didn't wake me up he should still be out.' _Despite this thought, Yugito decided she would check to make sure Naruto was really gone. Walking over to the door, the blond-haired female opened it and walked out into the small hallway. She quickly checked the dining room and the kitchen. When she was sure Naruto was not in the apartment, she made her way to the bathroom.

_'I'm sure he won't mind if I take a shower,' _she thought to herself. He had been very kind to her thus far, and she was sure he would be fine with her using his facilities to get clean. Who knew, he might even be appreciative that she wasn't smelling like she hadn't bathed in weeks when he arrived home.

The bathroom was very basic, and small, not that Yugito expected it to be large or anything, her bathroom back in Kumogakure had been even smaller. It had all the basics, a toilet and sink situated next to each other. The sink was pressed up against a wall that stuck out of the room and stopped about one-third of the way in, revealing a small entrance where the bath most likely was. On the wall opposite the toilet was a towel rack with several fluffy orange (?) towels hanging off of them.

Yugito moved across the floor, passing through the small entrance to reveal her earlier assumptions had been right. There was a small bath, large enough to fit one person comfortably. Unlike most baths, the heating device was on the side, and a large pipe was sticking out from the top, curving up and out of the room via through the wall. Off to the side was a small stool over a drain with a wooden bucket.

Walking up to the bath, Yugito turned on the facet until a steady stream of cool blue water began pouring out. Then she turned on the heating unit, cranking up the small dial to start a fire inside of it that would heat the water. With that done, Yugito quickly made to get undressed.

The first thing she took off was her shirt, the tight black shirt with a purple patch that ran along the lower part of her torso and half of her chest, slid off as she grabbed with it both hands by the hem and lifted it up. Looking at it, she noticed that it was very dirty as well. Her pants were too, and she realized that her clothes would need to be washed as well before she could wear them again.

Steam soon began filling the room. Yugito hiked her thumbs under her pants and panties, and slid them down the lower half of her body. Stepping out of them, the now nude Yugito folded her clothes, quickly walked out of the bathroom. It took her a while, but she was able to eventually realize that this apartment did not have a washing machine, meaning, much to her displeasure, she would need to wash them by hand. Sighing, she went back the bathroom and decided that could wait until after she was clean.

After setting her clothes on the toilet seat, she grabbed the bucket and went over to the bath tub. Sticking her hand in the water first, she deemed it hot enough and quickly filled the bucket with water. After looking around for a moment, she saw a small rack hanging on the wall filled with soap and shampoo. Both were for men, but considering this apartment belonged to a guy and she hadn't bathed in weeks, she wasn't going to be picky.

Grabbing a bar of soap and a bottle of shampoo, she walked back over to the stool and drain. Setting the cleaning supplied down, Yugito picked up the bucket and unceremoniously dumped the water over her head, drenching her from head to toe. After refilling the bucket with water, Yugito sat down and began washing herself.

As she worked the shampoo into her hair, Yugito found herself hoping that Naruto would be out for a while so that she could get cleaned and dressed before he came home.

* * *

Naruto arrived at the front door to his apartment when a thought arrived to the forefront of his mind; Yugito might still be asleep. With this in mind, the blond wanna-be Hokage cautiously and quietly turned the handle, opened the door, tip-toed in and closed the door behind him. Naruto continued to take a couple of light steps into the room just as the bathroom door swung open.

Naruto was then gifted by the sight of Yugito, wrapped in nothing but a towel. Naruto was able to see a good amount of cleavage and her flawless, peach colored skin which was now clearly visible after all the impurities had been washed away. This also brought out her beautiful, long blond hair that came down to her mid back and a little over each shoulder and down to her fairly well-endowed chest.

A droplet of water rolled down her neck, leaving a wet trail as it moved over her clavicle, then moved slowly along the upper swell of her cleavage and disappeared down into the towel as it moved between the valley of her breasts. If Naruto's brain had been working properly, he might have gulped. Had his brain been smart, he would have looked away as well.

While Naruto was treating himself to the spectacular view, Yugito turned her head to see him gawking at her. As soon as Naruto was seen, his position went from enjoyable to precarious. Yugito's face went through several different emotions: surprise, mortification, embarrassment and finally, it settled on anger. Once her emotional disposition had settled on a single emotion, that being of righteous female fury, she acted out of instinct that all women are born with and did the one thing her mind told her to do; start throwing things.

Whoever the moron was that came up with the idea that woman were fragile, sweet creatures must have been completely insane at the time...

The blond male of the duo was soon forced to dodge the many items and objects that were being thrown at him by his female counterpart. Bars of soap and shampoo bottles soon escalated into chairs, then a mattress... and finally, a sink! Naruto cursed under his breath just before the sink collided with his chest, knocking the air out of his lungs as he burst through the closed door, over the safety railing and plummeted down to the ground below.

Naruto groaned in pain as he pushed the sink off of him, cursing under his breath, again. Who do you think would be tasked with fixing that?

Naruto ignored the astonished spectators that had stopped walking when he was unceremoniously thrown out of his own apartment by, of all things, a kitchen sink and stood up. Tentatively, he walked up the steps of the apartment and edged to the door. He needed to tell Yugito about his discussion with the Sandaime Hokage, but he had no desire to have anything else thrown at him. If he stepped in, he might have to deal with a stove or refrigerator flying his way next!

Naruto looked down at the caved in door and cursed yet again. Who do you think would be tasked with replacing that?

Naruto sighed out of self-pity, but he wasn't one to wallow in it for too long as he quickly recovered. Normally, he would have just walked in and demanded some respect in his own abode. After all, this was _his _apartment, and he was letting Yugito stay there. Honestly, she shouldn't have been so angry, it's not like it was his fault she had walked out of _his _bathroom covered in nothing but a towel. Still, there was something about an enraged woman that made him think twice. Some form of self preservation instincts that told him waltzing in and demanding respect would be more troublesome then it was worth.

Within the Nara compound both Shikamaru and his father, Shikaku, sneezed. They rubbed their nose, simultaneously muttered troublesome, then went back to their game of Shogi.

Naruto cupped his chin, closing his eyes as he contemplated what his next course of action should be. His objective was to be able to enter his own apartment with having to endure the least amount of physical damage to himself and his wallet.

Naruto, who could be considered mentally inept during the best of times, came up with a complete blank. So he did what he did best: he winged it. Naruto closed his eyes and held his hands in front of him as he slowly walked in. "I'm not looking! Just please! Don't throw anything else!" Naruto instantly pleaded as he felt a blast of killing intent hit him as soon as he entered the apartment.

"Don't you knock before you open doors!" Yugito shouted as Naruto heard and partially felt a knife just nearly embed itself in his skull, but instead punctured the wall just behind him.

What Naruto _felt _like saying in response was, 'This is my goddamn house, so I don't need to goddamn knock! Dattebayo!' However, even the small-spec processor he called a brain knew that would be a bad idea. Instead of saying what he _wanted _to say, he said, "I thought you were sleeping and I didn't want to wake you up! I didn't know you were taking a bath!"

Yugito had to admit that his defense was reasonable enough. Truthfully she felt a small amount of shame and gratitude towards him. It wasn't exactly his fault that he had come in just as she was getting out of the shower. Not that she would tell him that. Sighing, she slowly placed the set of sharp kitchen utensils on a nearby table. "I'll let you off this time, but next time you won't be so lucky. Just wait outside and let me get dressed. It'll only take a minute," Yugito stated, Naruto gulped at the threat from the blond-haired girl as he scurried out of the door and did as he was told, leaning against the wall as he waited for Yugito.

Shikamaru always said that women were a drag...

'Point proven,' Naruto thought to himself as he sighed, leaned against the wall and slid down until he was on his butt. He looked up at the sky and shuddered, somehow feeling as if he just escaped the Shinigami's grasp.

* * *

Naruto learned something else about women that morning: They take _forever _to get dressed! Naruto was kept waiting outside so long that he actually fell asleep and was snoozing like a baby by the time Yugito finally walked out.

"Naruto! You wanted to talk to me about something?" Yugito inquired of the boy, lightly shaking him.

"What? What! What is it!" Naruto's shouting got increasingly louder as he jumped out of his sleep, a kunai in hand, acting as if they were being ambushed before Naruto got a clear grasp of where he was and he recollected what happened before he dozed off.

"Took you long enough!" Naruto complained, replacing the kunai in his holster. Yugito looked at him with a raised eyebrow, then looked at the holster that he had placed the kunai in, then back to him. For once, Naruto understood the look, but he just sighed and made a gesture that told her to forget it.

"I went to Jiji..." he trailed off when he noticed her blank stare. It took him a moment to realize that she probably didn't know who _jiji _was. Thus, he quickly elaborated with, "he's the Hokage, and I told him about you. I asked him if you could stay and he said somebody was going to come and interview you and then you could stay! Isn't that great!" Naruto explained, exclaiming the last part in joy of having his new friend stay in Konoha, despite her seemingly violent nature.

Yugito knew of the rather troubled relationship between Konoha and Kumo, so she was both relieved and ecstatic to hear that she was not being instantly expelled from the village like she had believed would happen if the day came that far too many ninja of this village found out that she was from Kumogakure. She had planned on telling Naruto to keep it a secret, but it was too late and it apparently didn't matter anyways. She was being given a chance to settle in a new village and all she had to do was answer a few questions. How hard could that be?

"How about we go celebrate with something to eat? You're still hungry, right?" Naruto inquired of the girl for the reason he had verbally stated. There was also the small fact that he was hungry, having not eaten much for breakfast since he gave most of his food to Yugito, and if he didn't get a few bowls of ramen in his system now, he just knew he was going to die.

"I am pretty hungry. Do you have a place in mind?" Yugito questioned calmly, but that didn't stop Naruto from giving a loud response.

"HELL YEAH I HAVE A PLACE IN MIND!" Naruto shouted victoriously, pumping a fist into the air with child-like enthusiasm. He grabbed Yugito by the hand, eliciting a very small blush from the girl who was not all that used to human contact. However, after a few moments of being pulled along by the enthusiastic whisker marked blond, she got used to, and even enjoyed the small amount of physical contact. She moved her legs quickly to catch up so she wasn't dragging along behind him, laughing a bit at the expression of childish joy on her fellow blond's face.

* * *

It only took a minute with Naruto's insane hunger to arrive at the small, opened eatery. Ichiraku Ramen was a very small wooden stand with a flap hanging over the entrance. Despite it's old and semi worn look, the heavenly aroma that wafted from the place negated any reservations Yugito might have had about the place. Without pausing, Naruto walked in and took his seat. Yugito followed close behind, taking the seat right next to him just as the owner of Ichiraku Ramen turned around to see who had entered his establishment.

The man – who looked to be in his mid to late forties, wearing a faded white shirt, blue jeans and a slightly dirty apron with a chefs hat on his head – was pleasantly surprised to see his favorite customer sitting in his usual seat, but what caught the shopkeeper's attention was the blond-haired girl sitting right next to him. Was Naruto making friends after being alone for so long?

A warm smile came upon Teuchi's face as he greeted the short, blond boy, "Naruto! It's good to see you again!"

Soon after this greeting, which was returned by an equally happy one from Naruto, the chef questioned Naruto about his new acquaintance. "Who's your new friend, Naruto?"

"Oh yeah! This is Yugito Nii. Yugito, this is Jii-san," Naruto introduced Teuchi to Yugito and vice-versa.

Yugito had instantly wished that Naruto told her the elderly man's real name since she didn't feel comfortable with referring to this friendly stranger as 'Gramps'. It sounded rude and disrespectful to call an older person by that, but it seemed that the ramen-maker did not mind at all and perhaps even enjoyed being spoken to in such a familiar name.

"It's nice to meet you, Yugito," Teuchi spoke to the young, blond-haired girl in a warm voice. It was the kind Yugito would have expected in a grandfatherly figure, something she had not experienced. She quickly gave him a similar greeting as the man began preparing a couple bowls that he would pour ramen into. Naruto visited the ramen shop so frequently that it was no longer necessary for him to tell Teuchi what he wanted as it was the same every time.

"What is it that you would like to eat? This may be 'Ichiraku Ramen', but we don't _only _serve ramen," the shop owner explained shortly to the girl who thought about it for a moment.

"Do you, by any chance, serve tekkadon?" Yugito asked politely, not even bothering to bring her hopes up as she knew that a ramen shop most likely did not contain the rice, raw tuna and special spices that were in the dish she liked.

"I'm sorry, but we don't serve tekkadon here," Teuchi apologized, but also made a small mental note to possibly begin making it. If this girl was really Naruto's friend, then she would possibly be visiting Ichiraku Ramen frequently and it would be a wise choice to begin making tekkadon.

Yugito looked to her left to see that Naruto had gone through already two bowls of ramen and was still going strong as Teuchi placed fresh bowl after fresh bowl in front of him. If Naruto was eating it like that, than the food must have been something special. "Can I get what Naruto is eating?" Yugito questioned the old man who nodded with a smile.

Nobody could eat ramen as passionately as Naruto, but Teuchi's ramen was delicious. Yugito was at first hesitant to try it before the hunger that she had felt through those weeks of travel came to her like a slap to the face and she began to chow down at a speed that rivaled Naruto's.

No matter how hungry someone was, they could not eat ramen of all things, faster than Naruto could. Heck, it was nearly impossible to eat anything faster than Naruto.

At the end of thirty minutes, forty bowls of ramen were piled high. Fifteen were Yugito's and the other twenty-five belonged to Naruto. "How much do I owe you, Jii-san?" Naruto questioned the old man who told Naruto that it was all on the house. Teuchi was happy to see that Naruto was making friends and decided not to have Naruto pay this time around. His income would take a somewhat sizable decline, but Naruto was almost like a son to him.

"REALLY? THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU, JII-SAN!" Naruto thanked the man ecstatically to the point where it could most likely be heard throughout Konoha. Yugito thanked the man as well, but a lot more politely and quietly than Naruto, though she couldn't help but giggle slightly at her fellow blond's rambunctious and overly enthusiastic way of thanking someone. Teuchi, who was pretty much used to Naruto's way of acting just chuckled and waved the thanks off.

Walking out of Ichiraku Ramen, the two blonds took a couple steps before Yugito stopped them with a question, "Where are we going now?"

"That's a good question!" Naruto stated loudly causing Yugito to sweatdrop. He didn't really have any plans on where they should go, reacting more on impulse then any logical thought process, or thinking period... how... Naruto-like. Meanwhile, Naruto was deep in thought as he closed his eyes and made a face as he began to think of an idea on what they should do. Yugito giggled as Naruto's expression went shortly from a calm thinking one, to a straining look that made Naruto seem as if he was constipated in his crouched position.

It was only a minute later when Naruto finally had his eureka moment, jumping high into the air as he pumped his fists, shouting, "I got it!"

"Since your going to be living in this village, I should show you around, right?" Naruto stated in a voice that showed he was praising himself, causing Yugito to laugh laugh. Naruto looked at her for a moment, wondering if she was laughing at him. But seeing the smile on her face that she was sending his way made it so that, even if she _was _laughing at him, it wouldn't have mattered. The number of people who smiled his way could be counted on one hand. The smile she was giving him – which he absently noted made her more beautiful then ever before – made his world that much brighter then it had been minutes before.

"Alright!" He determined, grabbing Yugito's hand, which this time was grabbed back as the girl was getting used to him acting on what was most likely instincts. "Let's go!"

Yugito couldn't help but mirror Naruto's grin as the whiskered blond began dragging her off to their first destination.

* * *

The first place Naruto thought important to tell Yugito about was the Hokage Residence, which was probably the most important building in all of Konohagakure. It was where missions were assigned, where orders were given, where the Hokage stayed and where other important operations were carried out. The central hub of Konoha, as it were.

"This building here is where the Hokage stays," Naruto explained rather vaguely despite its actually importance as he instantly moved, Yugito lingering a step behind as she looked at the massive red structure with the kanji of Hi no Kuni inscribed in the middle of a large circle that protruded out of the building.

"Let's go, Yugito! We're burning daylight and there's still a lot of stuff to see," Naruto remarked in his usual, loud way. Yugito snapped out of her awe and caught up with him as they walked towards Naruto's next destination.

* * *

"And this is my least favorite place in the _entire _village," Naruto spoke in complete disgust about the next building, emphasizing the word 'entire'.

"But it's a hospital," Yugito responded without having to be told what the building was used for. Hospitals were pretty much universal in how they looked; white walls, lots of windows on the side where patient rooms would be and a large glass sliding door. The fact that there was a large sign with the kanji for hospital on the front simply made what the place was used for all the more obvious.

"Exactly," was Naruto's only reply as he began to leave. Yugito followed right behind and sweat dropped as she caught his silent murmurs of white-clad devils, stone-like beds and thousands of tools that would be the death of him.

* * *

As Naruto and Yugito walked through the streets of Konoha, the blond young boy pointed out a couple stores and convenient department stores that catered to every shinobi's and villager's needs, from clothes and food, to weaponry and scrolls.

As Naruto continued talking about some of the more important department stores, he almost did not catch on to the fact that Yugito wasn't paying attention anymore. Something else had caught her eye, but Naruto decided to just continue with the tour until he decided she needed to be snapped out of it.

What had caught Yugito's eye, however, was not an item of the many department stores, something in the sky above, or something on the ground below. What had caught Yugito's attention were the villagers that surrounded her and Naruto.

The eyes of these villagers were fixated in one direction and they carried an overflowing amount of anger and disgust, while some villagers' eyes held fear and worry, as if their life could be in danger at any second. Those eyes full of fury, wished their target a thousand painful deaths, while those with fear, wished his very existence away. Those eyes scorned and feared their target at highs that she had never before seen.

Yugito was but only a second from cowering behind Naruto. Back in her village, she was treated much the same way, but what she was experiencing here was ten times worse. This exceeded anything she had ever experienced. Was she wrong about Konoha being a safe haven?

It took a minute or two before Yugito finally managed to note that the scornful glares were not aimed at her, but at the blond-haired boy in front of her, who was still calmly walking through the streets and talking to Yugito as if he didn't have every single villager they passed staring at him with hateful and distrusting glances. How could he ignore the stares he was receiving like that?

A storm of questions instantaneously brewed within Yugito's mind. Why did they hate Naruto? What did Naruto do? Why were they afraid of Naruto? What did Naruto do? Why hadn't Naruto noticed those eyes yet?

Yugito's efforts to answer all of these questions were in vain as they only multiplied and succeeded in frying her mind from overuse. This was quite the puzzle and one that she wanted to solve. She had come up with one possible solution, but the chances that it was the answer were extremely slim to the point where it was nonexistent.

Yugito was finally snapped out of her silent contemplation by the tone of Naruto's worried voice, "Are you okay, Yugito?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. What were you saying?" Yugito assured Naruto who had a worried look in his eyes. The male of the group frowned as he looked at her, trying to see if something was wrong. Yugito squirmed a bit, his eyes could be surprisingly piercing when they wanted to be. However, after a moment or two the whiskered blond couldn't seem to find anything wrong with his new friend. He nodded, then got back to the topic he had been trying to discuss with her.

"I was just telling you about the Academy and asked if you wanted to be a kunoichi?" Naruto repeated as the memories of what happened early that afternoon came to him. Yugito had really good aim with that knife, and those bottles of shampoo, the soap, the mattress... the sink... he shuddered. Naruto sighed, once again in self-pity as he remembered he had to make a couple home improvements when he returned that day.

This moment of regret caused Naruto to miss Yugito's answer and therefore give the blonde the wrong message. "Is there something wrong with that?" Yugito inquired of Naruto upon hearing him sigh, with a voice of slowly building anger that showed she was offended.

"Wait! What? Huh? I'm confused?" Naruto babbled like an idiot at Yugito's seemingly spontaneous fury in both fear and confusion at what had brought it on.

"I just told you that I do plan on becoming a kunoichi and you sighed!" Yugito accused vehemently, wondering why that got Naruto upset. Did he think she was incapable of becoming one? Did he think she was too weak, because she wouldn't think twice about proving him wrong! Even if she was not in her home village anymore, she would still become a strong and proud kunoichi and nobody was about to take that away from her!

Naruto shook his head vigorously as he waved his hands in front of him, trying to show his innocence. "You got it all wrong! I was just thinking about something else and I wasn't paying attention to your answer!"

Naruto's mood went from fearful to bright and cheerful upon remembering her answer, "That's right! You said you were going to be a kunoichi! That's great! That means that we can go to the same school and I think there's an open seat in my class! That means we could be in the same class! That would be so cool!"

Naruto's cheerful attitude only increased as he began hyping himself up even more. Yugito sweat dropped for a moment, almost not believing it was possible for someone to be as happy as the spiky-headed blond. Still, she couldn't help but find Naruto's happy-go-lucky attitude to be both comical and relieving after being on the road for so long. Almost like a nice refreshing breeze on a hot summer's day.

Yugito could not remember a day she had ever laughed so much, or had ever felt this happy and at peace. Naruto was someone special, she was beginning to realize, and Yugito knew that she was extremely lucky to have met him.

As Naruto slowly began to calm down, the two blonds noticed that the sun had begun to set, turning the sky a brilliant orange mixed with reds and purples. "We should go back home, it's getting late," Yugito suggested to Naruto, who had a contemplative look on his face.

Yugito was slowly reaching over to Naruto to check if he was okay when, after several more seconds, the blond still had yet to respond to her question. Considering he had just been shouting like a hyper active little kid, the silence was beginning to get disturbing. Yugito stopped her progress when she heard Naruto speak in an almost uncharacteristically calm, cool voice, "I want to show you my favorite place in Konoha before we go."

_'Favorite place?' _Yugito couldn't help but wonder where her new friends favorite place was, and how it could bring such a calm look to the normally hyperactive blond.

* * *

Naruto held a firm hand down to Yugito to help her up a rather large climb, grabbing the hand she held out and pulling her up to the final ledge. Yugito lightly dusted herself off upon completing the hike. She didn't know why they went through all this trouble to get to one place, but when she looked up, her expression went from one of idle curiosity into one of sheer awe.

Naruto let a small smirk grace his lips when he saw the expression on Yugito's beautiful and glowing features. Naruto remembered when he first decided to come up to this spot and when he had finally succeeded in making the climb, he had the same expression on his face as Yugito did.

They stood on top of the Hokage Monument, which was the highest point in all of Konoha. More specifically, the were standing on the head of the Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato, who had led the village for quite some time till his death in which the position was once again occupied by the Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen. He looked out at the horizon, the orange, reds and purples set the sky and treeline below on fire. A beautiful sight, and one of the reasons Hi No Kuni had been given it's name, the Land of Fire.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Naruto commented in that same, strange, calm tone that grabbed Yugito's attention. She looked over at him, noting the peaceful look on his face. What was it that made Naruto so different from how he usually was? Was it the scenery that made Naruto look like a man at peace, or just the situation? Probably a bit of both.

"It's amazing!" Yugito said in an almost silent gasp, her eyes going back to the sky. Naruto's small smirk turned into a warm smile as he lightly held her by the wrist and led her till they were right on top of the head. Naruto proceeded to lay on the ground as he looked over to see Yugito's eyes were still firmly planted on the sky. Grabbing her hand, he directed her attention to him with a gentle tug. She looked down at him and he tugged again. It took her a second, but she soon got the hint and laid down next to him.

"One of these days, I want to have my head right next to this one," Naruto remarked slightly off-handily, Yugito looking back down at him in slight amazement. She remembered Naruto mentioning that the monument had the heads of all the Hokage imprinted on it.

"You want to become Hokage?" Yugito asked in amazement at the seemingly impossible goal. Out of the thousands of ninja in the village, only a select few were ever even considered for the position. The Kage of any one of the five Major Ninja villages were the most powerful of their respective home. To get to that position, you had to become stronger then anyone else in your village. Gaining such a prestigious title required more work and dedication then most people were ever willing to give.

The whiskered blond's response came in the form of a nod and a warm smile on his face that Yugito found very comforting. "I know you saw how the villagers treat me here and to be honest, I don't know why they hate me," Naruto began, an astonished look appeared on Yugito's face. Had he always been this perceptive and just acted ignorant? Or was there something more to the blond's ability to read the situation?

"But that's why I want to become the next Hokage. I want to be somebody, somebody important that everybody respects and acknowledges as someone great. I want everybody to think of me as important to the village," Naruto explained his goal with a certain air about him that made you want to believe that he would accomplish that goal one day. Listening to him, Yugito couldn't help but hope he did eventually become Hokage.

"Jiji always told me stories of how the Yondaime Hokage was one of the greatest Hokages and about how he was so widely respected and known throughout the village and the world. Jiji told me that he died for Konoha the day I was born," Naruto commented with a strange, sad smile as silence overcame the two, Yugito hanging on every word that Naruto was saying. To see Naruto acting so mature when he had acted like a child on a sugar high the entire day made this a rare and interesting event.

"I want to become just like him one day," Naruto finished with a smile as he took one last deep breath and relaxed against the fourth's head, looking up at the sky as his eyes slowly closed and he dozed off into a peaceful slumber.

Yugito, however, was still awake and was looking down on Naruto's peacefully sleeping form as she supported herself on one elbow, watching as the moonlight seemed to dance on his features with a soft smile on her face.

_'I couldn't have met a better person, I'm sure of it now... He's so different and special in his own way. He's brash, loud and childish, yet can be calm, quiet and mature. He always manages to make me laugh and despite how hurt he is by how everybody treats him, he manages to keep a smile on his face and ignores it. I was never that strong,' _Yugito thought as she unconsciously brought a hand up and began running it through Naruto's golden blond locks. His hair was soft, she mused, almost like fur.

Laying down on her side, so that she could still look at Naruto's sleeping face, Yugito said, "I'm really glad I met you, Naruto." Her voice a mere whisper that was lost on the wind. Soon, the peaceful atmosphere that had overcome the area began to lull Yugito into a sense of security. Her eyes slowly fell closed, and her breathing evened out, as she too, fell asleep.

* * *

**I also want to end this off by apologizing for the delay in releasing this chapter. I'm a little ill with bronchitis, nothing to serious, but I had a bit of a fever yesterday. My sporadic fever seems to have stopped so I'll be sure to be on time tomorrow. Sorry again.**

**Till tomorrow, see ya guys.**

**-Reprise**


	3. Citizenship

**I'm back again, I'm still sick and I feel lightheaded but I got you with this chapter before i forget. But first, let me do these responses:**

**TheBearededAssHat: **Deal with it champ. I don't open my ears to simply foul reviewers.

**CainSanity2016: **Seraph and I write quite a bit alike in terms of writing style in general, but length is dependent on what needs to happy in that specific chapter. Some will be longer than others, but usually the length will hover around the same lengths as some of these first few chapters.

**bankai777:** No, Yugao gonna be a team leader. She's remaining in the ANBU.

**DeathDemonWolf:** How Yugito got here and by what means is already set in stone by this chapter that was written by the author before me. So you'll find your answer below and I'll hope you like it or can deal with it, because I'm leaving these first six untouched.

**Friaku **&** Guest:** I'll keep up as good of work as I can and I hope you enjoy the following chapter.

**All 6 reviews responded (check)**

**Chapter (check)**

**I'll let you guys get down to the refresher.**

* * *

**Worth Protecting**

**Chapter 3: Citizenship **_**  
**_

Naruto drowsily opened his eyes only to be blinded by the morning rays of the rising sun that shown across the horizon. The radiance of the sun after the darkness of the night seemed to signal the awakening of the world as Naruto was instantly greeted by the sound of chirping and chattering wildlife, the rushing waters of a nearby river and the light sound of the wind sweeping across the barren streets of Konoha and through the trees surrounding the village.

A small smile of relaxation appeared on Naruto's face as he strew his arm over his eyes to shield them from the beams of light, feeling as it heated the fabric of his clothing. Naruto let out a content sigh only to feel it slightly restricted by a warm weight that he just realized was on his mid-chest. Naruto felt tempted to check what it was, but he weighed that the value of his relaxation was far greater than his curiosity.

Naruto would have been able to ignore this soft pressure on his chest, but then... it moved. Naruto's curiosity went from ignorable to unbearable as he could no longer contain himself. Naruto's eyes flew open as he bent his head towards his chest to get a good look at what had interrupted him from one of his more enjoyable hobbies. The somnolent blond instantly regretted this action as his eyes were left vulnerable to the unrelenting light rays of the sun. Naruto groaned in annoyance as he blinked rapidly, allowing his eyes time to adjust.

As Naruto's eyes adjusted, the preliminary blur he saw began to take shape. When Naruto finally got a clear picture, a deep, scarlet blush tainted his cheeks almost instantaneously. The warm weight that was laid out on his chest turned out to be, unexpectedly enough, Yugito.

Yugito was facing Naruto, giving the blond boy a view that showcased her beauty. Yugito was coated in an ethereal glow as the sun shown on her back, bringing out the natural shine to her hair, the creamy, peach color to her skin and her pink lips which were ever so slightly parted to reveal a small bit of her bright white teeth. Naruto's eyes then moved onto her body which he noticed was rather curvacious under her clothing for her age. Naruto noticed Yugito's toned muscles that came from training to be a kunoichi and as he looked at her arms, he trailed one of them up to the hand, only to see that it was entangled in his hair.

Naruto gulped as he realized their close proximity and the blush that stained his cheeks grew a few shades darker as his mind wandered. When he finally did manage to come to his senses, he found himself extremely confused about how he should feel about his predicament. A part of him said the he should just lay back and enjoy the moment, while another part told him to try and retreat as quickly as he could.

Naruto had just recently discovered how women reacted when they were put in an uncomfortable position and if Yugito was to wake up and found herself this close to him, she could possibly maim him. Even if Naruto desired to remove Yugito off of him, the last thing he wanted to do was suddenly wake her up from her peaceful slumber.

Judgment was already being passed before Naruto could come to a decision as Yugito's eyes fluttered open. Naruto's breathing hitched in fear as Yugito rubbed the remaining sleep from her eyes, letting off a tired yawn before her gaze fell on Naruto. What happened next was unexpected by the both of them as Naruto found himself momentarily mesmerized by Yugito's cat-like, beautiful purple eyes while Yugito was hypnotized by Naruto's deep blue ones.

They remained in this stasis position for a good couple minutes before they finally snapped themselves out of it and finally brought their attention back to the position they were in. Yugito's body was still pressed on to Naruto's and their faces were only a couple inches apart, probably less.

Yugito hastily removed herself off of Naruto while Naruto scooted slightly away from her, both of them clearing their throats loudly and awkwardly. "Uhm, yeah. Good morning, Yugito," Naruto managed to say in a calm, steady voice that betrayed any sign of how erratically his heart was beating.

"G-good m-morning to you too, Naruto." Yugito mentally cursed herself for stuttering as it showed how affected she was by what had just occurred. An uncomfortable silence came upon the two soon after, neither knowing what to say.

"So... what do you want to do today?" Naruto spoke first, being the more confident and brash of the two. Yugito was mentally thankful that Naruto had decided to speak first, but his question left her with a complete blank as she shrugged in response, not yet trusting her voice to come through for her.

"I don't know about you, but I'm starving!" Naruto commented just before his stomach growled, which only emphasized his point as he jumped to his feet. Naruto was so focused on the streets of Konoha below that he did not notice the surprised look that came upon Yugito's face.

Yugito knew that they had not technically eaten in awhile, having been asleep, but for someone to be hungry as soon as they woke up was weird frankly. Yugito had to admit that she had a rather large appetite, but unlike Naruto, hers took some time to set in after waking up. What Yugito heard next made her wonder about Naruto's diet.

"Ichiraku Ramen! Here I come!" Naruto shouted to the heavens upon seeing his favorite shop open up, using his keen, super-human sense of sight. The ecstatic blond boy began bounding down the back of the Hokage Monument and, in his happy, single-minded goal to get ramen, forgot about Yugito!

"Naruto! Wait for me!" Yugito whined with a surprised expression as she began to leap from ledge to ledge just as Naruto had, using their academy level training.

* * *

Teuchi took a deep breath of the crisp morning air as he unlatched the lock that kept the rusty iron curtain in place before lifting the curtain up. How long had he been in business? '_Far longer than I can remember,_' Teuchi mused to himself as he stepped in and behind the counter, arranging the appliances for the new business day.

"Ichiraku Ramen! Here I come!"

A warm smile appeared on Teuchi's face as he instantly recognized the voice and traced it to the Hokage Monument where the old man's eyes settled on the Yondaime Hokage's head. A nostalgic smile came upon the old man's face as he remembered a young Minato Namikaze constantly visiting his store. Now the old chef had a similar looking blond as a regular customer. Maybe that was why he gave Naruto a chance when nobody else in the village would?

While Teuchi was in his silent contemplations, he nearly missed the entrance of Naruto and Yugito who took the same seats as yesterday and greeted the old man. Snapping himself back to the present, Teuchi greeted the blond duo, "Good morning, Naruto, Yugito. I assume it will be the same as yesterday?"

The inquiry was meant more for Yugito since Naruto was definitely going to order the same thing. Yugito's response came in the form of a nod and a small smile. "Good. One moment and I'll get started," the elderly shopkeeper stated as he retreated to the supply room in the back to retrieve the ingredients he would need to concoct fresh bowls of ramen.

Yugito remained silent until she was positive the owner of Ichiraku Ramen would be unable to hear her before she turned to Naruto and spoke in a whisper, "Is ramen all you ever eat?" Yugito found Naruto's eating habit extremely unhealthy and wanted to talk to him about it, but if Teuchi heard her, he might be falsely led into believing that she did not enjoy his food which was actually far from the truth. Ichiraku Ramen's ramen was the best ramen she had ever tasted in her life!

Naruto scarcely gave the question a moment's thought before he answered it with a huge grin and a cheerful tone, "Yep!"

Yugito chuckled lightly at his response as she decided to simply drop it since, in the end, she was no better. Back in Kumogakure, there was a sushi bar that looked much like Ichiraku Ramen and she used to engorge in their tekkadon. Yugito giggled to herself when she thought about the insane levels of food she and Naruto ate and how little weight they put on, if any at all.

When Teuchi had finally made four dozen bowls of ramen, he proceeded to place the dish in front of the duo only to experience a feeling of deja vu as he watched the saucers disappear one by one as the blonds scarfed it down, hardly chewing between each mouthful.

In an unbelievably small amount of time, ramen bowls were once again piled high into the air, blocking Teuchi's view of his favorite customer and his new friend. Naruto and Yugito patted their stomachs with a content smile on their faces. "So, how much do I owe you, Jii-san?" Naruto repeated the same question he usually asked when he finished his meals at Ichiraku Ramen.

"Don't worry about it, Naruto. It's on the house today as well," Teuchi assured the blond who once again erupted into a loud series of thank yous that the old shopkeeper waved off until Naruto and Yugito left with a wave of good-byes. Yugito had to say that the generosity of the elderly cook was shocking to her, but it also gave her a warm feeling in her heart when she realized that some people really did care for Naruto.

Instead of asking Yugito where she wanted to go before planning a destination like what usually happened, Naruto seemed to have a place already in mind as he began walking in a predetermined direction without a word. Yugito followed close behind, curious of where Naruto was going as she questioned him about it, "So Naruto, where are we going?"

"I have to stop by my apartment to repair a sink and replace a door that a certain 'somebody' broke!" Naruto commented, stressing the second to last word in the sentence with a clear, undertone of annoyance. Yugito got the message as a blush formed on her cheeks, feeling embarrassed and a little bit ashamed of what she had done. She was not versed in the way of the handy-man, so she would not be able to help Naruto in his home improvements.

* * *

Naruto arrived in front of his apartment to find the battered sink embedded in the ground where he had left it. "You can wait inside, Yugito. I'll be right up after I get a few things I need," Naruto suggested, deciding not to make Yugito feel bad for putting him through this labor. Naruto had sensed her down mood since he had commented on the repairs and decided to stop after that.

Yugito nodded as she quietly walked up the stairs to the open entrance of the abode, deciding to stay out of Naruto's way until he had completed his task. Naruto sighed at Yugito's depressing mood, but decided to worry about it later as he pulled out a small set of keys and proceeded to go down a couple steps under the apartment where their was one rusty, metallic door that led to the basement.

Naruto inserted the key into the lock and with one turn and a resounding click, the creaky door flew open as Naruto flipped on the light switch. This basement contained a vast array of tools, pieces of wood in a variety of sizes, screws of different lengths, certain spare home features, a large collection of cleaning supplies and in the very back, an enormous amount of different color paint.

Naruto placed the keys back into his front pocket as he stepped into the medium-sized basement and began to scan the many shelves for what he would need. First, he retrieved a box that contained an assortment of tools from the bottom shelf and carried it by its convenient handle. Naruto than walked to the cluster of screws and took a couple boxes of different lengths and placed it within the tool box before delving deeper into the underground room. Naruto browsed through the different dimensions of wood until he found a spare door made for his apartment. Finally, carrying the replacement door under his free arm, Naruto retreated to the back of the basement and took a can of paint that had the same color as his walls and held it by clenching his teeth on the handle before grabbing a rolling brush and a tray.

Having collected everything he would need, Naruto stepped out of the basement and closed the door behind him, not bothering to lock it as he would have to return the remainders of the supplies later. Soon after stepping back onto the streets of Konohagakure after exiting the basement, Naruto walked over to the disassembled sink and using his foot, launched it into the air and caught it on his back. Now having completely everything on his person, Naruto tediously walked up the steps, straining himself not to drop anything since his arm span was not as long as he would have liked it to be.

In about a minute or so, Naruto walked back into his apartment and began to set down everything he needed on the ground one by one as Yugito watched in amazement, finding it surprising that Naruto could carry so much in one trip given his rather small stature. Although she did not say anything to him about it, Naruto was on the short-side, being shorter than even she was.

Before beginning the process of fixing the sink or door, Naruto stepped out of his apartment and grabbed the dented door before launching it, with accurate precision, into the decayed dumpster against the complex's side wall. Satisfied when he heard the sharp clang of wood hitting metal, Naruto strolled back inside and grabbed the tool box and detached sink as he walked into the kitchen area.

Naruto inserted the sink back into the slot in the counter that it had been ripped out of and using four screws and a hammer, fastened it back into the counter so it would not be easily ripped out again. Naruto proceeded to replace the hammer and screws back in the box before taking out a wrench and bending down to get under the sink where he aligned and attached the severed pipelines.

After about ten to twenty minutes of working on the pipes, Naruto exhaled deeply as he wiped a few droplets of sweat off his brow as he turned on the sink and watched with a sense of pride and achievement as watered streamed out of the faucet undisturbed. Naruto continued to place his hands under the flowing water as he splashed the cold liquid on his face, refreshing himself to begin repairing the door. An impressed expression came upon Yugito's face as she looked at the repaired sink, think to herself how capable of a person Naruto actually was.

Naruto, after rejuvenating himself with the cool tap water, returned to his work, replacing the wrench in the tool box before carrying it back to the other supplies. Leaving the tool box open, Naruto took the spare door and with some difficulty and a couple minutes, managed to place it perfectly within the opening and using a screwdriver, a hammer and a couple screws, fastened the hinges to the door.

Naruto tested the door by opening and closing it repeatedly. Seeing that the door had been properly situated, Naruto strode to the kitchen, grabbed a large roll of paper towels and began to cover the ground near the door with it so that the few droplet of paint that would drip to the ground would not hit the wooden floor.

Having prepared everything, Naruto finally decided that he should begin painting as he popped of the lid and began to pour the thick liquid into the tin tray. The blond handy-man followed to dab his brush into the dye before he began to coat the door. This paint would only require one layer, which was good as Naruto did not have the patience to repeat it several times.

The entire procedure only took a couple minutes, but, thankfully, by the time it was completed, the door matched the color of the walls and was fully functional. Naruto had finished packing up all the tools and left over paint and was carrying them downstairs as Yugito was once again left in awe at how Naruto had managed to make all the repairs on his own.

_'I guess when you live alone, you have to know how to do these type of things. Seeing how the villagers treat him, he wouldn't be able to get help even if he wanted it... but he wouldn't have had to do it if I hadn't overreacted in the first place,'_ Yugito thought as her mood once again deteriorated and she felt like a burden to her kind host.

Arriving back at his apartment, after replacing the supplies back in the basement, Naruto closed the door, careful not to get paint on him, before turning around to feel more than notice Yugito's brooding. "Is something wrong, Yugito?" Naruto questioned worriedly. Yugito had been energetic and happy for pretty much the entire time he had met her, so seeing her like this was worrisome.

"I'm just a burden to you, aren't I?" Yugito said in a depressed tone, her eyes taking a darker tone as she refused to look Naruto in the eye. This also kept her from seeing the expression of sheer confusion that manifested on Naruto's face.

"A 'burden'! What the hell gave you that idea!" Naruto demanded more than asked for an answer, finding the reason for Yugito's sadness to be infuriating. Yugito was probably Naruto's closest friend despite only knowing her for two days and he had never been this happy before. How could somebody that made him this happy be a burden to him?

"It's my fault you had to fix the door and the sink! If I hadn't overreacted, you wouldn't have had to waste your energy at all! Me being here is just causing problems for you!" Yugito commented, looking Naruto straight in the eye before finishing and instantly looking away, not feeling like she could look Naruto in the eye anymore than she already had.

Naruto sighed in disbelief. Was that really all there was to it? Did she think a broken sink and door was a big deal? Naruto never really socialized with girls as they did their best to avoid him, but were they really this emotional about absolutely everything?

"Geez, and I thought, I was the stupid one!" Naruto began Yugito looking up as she was wondering where Naruto was going with this, only to see a bright smile on his face that seemed to spontaneously fill her with warmth and encouragement.

"You being here isn't causing problems from me! You being here is making me happier than I have ever been my entire life!" Naruto told sincerely, despite how anti-social that made himself sound. Naruto was rather blunt with his way of speaking, rarely ever beating around the bush.

A deep blush appeared on Yugito's cheeks as Naruto told her how important she was in his life. Her insecure feeling of remaining in Naruto's abode seemed to have been washed away as a small smile appeared on her face. "Thank you, Naruto."

"Anytime..." was Naruto's response, waving off Yugito's thank you as he didn't do anything special other than stating what was obvious to him.

Naruto gave a moment's pause before continuing, "It doesn't get dark for a couple more hours, so where do you want to go?" Yugito looked outside to see that Naruto was in fact correct. They had woken up rather early, ate at Ichiraku Ramen for a good hour before Naruto made the repairs in about two hours. They still had a lot of time left, the question was how they would spend it.

Yugito thought about it for a good couple minutes since it seemed Naruto didn't have anywhere special in mind and she finally came up with her answer upon looking down at her worn-out clothes. She had been on the road an extremely long time, so it was guaranteed that her clothes would get worn down.

"Can we go shopping for some new clothes?" Yugito inquired innocently, watching Naruto flinch ever so slightly in surprise before looking at her like a deer stuck in the headlights.

"Is something wrong?" Yugito asked worriedly, putting a hand on Naruto's arm, only to be given no response. Naruto's mind was trapped at the idea of going clothes shopping with Yugito.

Although Naruto may not have had the experience directly, he had seen many males dragged to the clothing stores by women and Naruto wouldn't see them again for a couple hours. Naruto learned that day that there was a difference between how males shop and how females shop.

Males walked into a store, scanned it for something they wanted to buy, found what they were looking for in little to no time, bought it and left. Females on the other hand went rack by rack, selected thousands of different types of clothing and tried every single one of them out before buying them. The worst part about it was that some times, the female would leave the store empty handed, meaning all that time had been for nothing. Naruto did not want to waste his day shopping for clothes.

"Naruto! Is something the matter?" Yugito shouted, shaking Naruto more vigorously, finally getting a response from the blond.

"There is no way in hell I'm going shopping for clothes!" Naruto vehemently stated, causing Yugito to pout as she didn't understand why.

"C'mon! Please Naruto! If I'm going to live hear, I'm going to need clothes! Please, please, please, please!" Yugito pleaded with the blond-haired man who turned his back to her, his arms folded across his chest, eyes closed, showing how against it he was.

"Nope. I will not cave, Yugito! You can say 'please' all you want!"

* * *

"Damn... I caved," Naruto muttered as he leaned against a wooden wall, watching as Yugito browsed through the many racks of the department stores at a snail's pace. Naruto regretted ever giving Yugito a tour of Konoha as this experience proved to be a lot more boring than he could have ever imagined. Naruto's observation of a girl shopping had been spot on: They did take forever!

The blond duo had taken a break from their shopping trip to get some food at the nearby food court which allowed them to waste about a hour or two worth of time. Yugito than spent another hour trying to get Naruto to buy some new clothes soon after, although with no results as Naruto refused, not seeing anything wrong with the clothes he currently had.

Naruto looked down at about twenty or so bags, packed tight with different types of clothing, some of which he was embarrassed to be holding. On the plus side, Naruto had to say that the clothing weren't that expensive, but they were abundant. Naruto was thankful that he hadn't paid for Ichiraku Ramen the last two time he went or he may have run out a lot faster than he would have expected.

Naruto watched as Yugito picked another article of clothing from the rack and hooked it to her arm, Naruto already feeling his money pouch getting smaller causing him to groan in self-pity. Naruto was so preoccupied in his own contemplation that he didn't notice another man leaning against the same wall as him in the exact same position as Naruto was in.

The man was far taller than Naruto, had brown hair and had a hardened expression about him that made him look experienced, most likely a shinobi although by his village clothing, it was hard to tell. "You caved too," the man spoke, acquiring Naruto's attention who sighed, nodding his head in a defeated expression.

"You know. I used to feel the same way as you did when I first had to come hear back when my wife was a friend of mine. I used to think that it was the most boring and pointless thing that I have ever done and it was costing me money, but looking back on it, I feel stupid for ever thinking about it like that," the man spoke with a soft smile as he looked at his wife who was currently looking through the racks as well.

Naruto was curious now, "What made you change your mind?" The brown-haired man closed his eyes as he thought about his approach to his point.

"Tell me something, kid. You're with the blond-haired girl, correct?" the brown-haired man inquired, opening his eyes as he pointed at Yugito.

Naruto nodded as the shinobi-villager continued, "Look at her, look at her expression. Do you see that smile on her face?" Naruto looked over at Yugito to indeed notice a small smile of happiness on her face. Naruto received a feeling of contentment that he was able to cause that by accompanying Yugito here and paying for things that she quite literally needed.

The brown-haired villager saw the smile that came upon Naruto's face and assumed that his point came across as he spoke, "Now you know what I mean. I was ignorant back than, but that feeling is why I come here whenever she needs me to. Besides, if you're lucky, she might reward you at the end of the day."

The kind man gave Naruto a knowing smile and wink as he lightly pushed off the wall, getting ready to leave when he saw his wife motion to him that she was finished. A small blush came upon Naruto's face when he realized what the man was implying with his ending comment, but said his 'good-bye's to the pleasant man.

It was only when the kind man had left that Naruto thought back and grasped the fact that a villager from Konohagakure had not been hostile towards him. This feeling was new to the blond-haired boy since at times it seemed that the entirety of Konoha hated him for no apparent reason, except for a select few individuals.

'Maybe there are a lot of nice villagers and I just haven't met them yet... or maybe that guy was a retired shinobi. The shinobi have always been a lot more nicer to me than the villagers,' Naruto thought to himself as he shrugged, deciding to just drop the thought and be happy that he managed to hold a pleasant conversation with someone.

When Naruto finally snapped out of this contemplation, he suddenly became aware of Yugito calling his name repetitively, "Naruto! Naruto! I'm done!"

It took a moment for Naruto to process those few relieving words, but Naruto felt kinda conflicted after his talk with the brown-haired man. Naruto was bored out of his mind, but at the same time, the feeling of contentment that he got from seeing Yugito's smile was nice as well.

"Are you sure? There's no need to rush if you don't have everything, but if you're done..." Naruto trailed off, a curious expression coming upon Yugito's face as she wondered what could have created this change of behavior towards his idea of shopping.

"I'm positive. I have everything I wanted and besides, it'll get dark soon," Yugito pointed out, Naruto looking outside through the glass doors of the entrance to see that the sun had indeed begun to set. Naruto nodded, seeing that Yugito was sure of her decision, proceeding to the cashier where Yugito's items were quickly scanned and Naruto handed the kind lady the money that was required.

Naruto took the bags from the counter to add to the collection he was already carrying and continued to walk out of the department store with Yugito. Naruto looked both ways of the street, determining the fastest route to his apartment before he was unexpectedly given a hug by Yugito. The blush on his cheeks and the feeling of surprise he experienced only increased ten-fold when Yugito planted a small kiss on his cheek.

"That was for keeping me company here even though you didn't want to. Thank you," Yugito thanked the blond-haired boy, hiding her own blush from kissing him. Naruto also attempted to hide his own blush and waved off her thank you, saying that it was 'no big deal'. Yugito smiled at Naruto's modesty as she followed him to his apartment.

Through the corner of his eyes, Naruto spotted the brown-haired man from before and turned his head slightly, acknowledging the villager's presence. The brown-haired man gave Naruto a silent thumbs up and a smile causing Naruto to look away and chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Yugito asked Naruto, curious about his seemingly abrupt laughter and smile.

"It's nothing. I just remember something a kind guy told me."

* * *

The blonds soon arrived at their destination as they quietly walked up the stairs, simply enjoying each others' presence. Naruto removed a set of keys he carried from his pocket in preparation to open the door that he had just recently repaired. Thankfully, Naruto did not need to make a different key for this door as it used the same lock.

Naruto halted his progress to his home when he took note of a middle-aged man leaning against his door, a shinobi by the looks of it. The man had long blond hair reaching down to his back, which he wore spiky on top and ending in a long ponytail, blue-green eyes and strong facial features, which included a well defined jaw line. The man was wearing the standard Konohagakure flack jacket over a black outfit, complete with hand-guards, forehead protector and a sleeveless red coat. The man reminded Naruto of his classmates, Ino Yamanaka.

"Can I help you?" Naruto question in a more aggressive way than he actually wanted it to sound, not liking the fact that this stranger was waiting in front of his apartment for him and his new friend.

"I assure you I mean no harm. My name is Inoichi Yamanaka and I was sent here by Hokage-sama to interview Yugito Nii," Inoichi introduced himself with a small formal bow, causing Naruto to relax as he remembered Jii-chan mentioning this interview.

"Nice to meet you, Yamanaka-san. My name is Naruto Uzumaki," Naruto greeted the man, extending his hand towards the Yamanaka head who shook it firmly.

"I am well aware. You are infamous among the shinobi ranks due to your consistent shenanigans," Inoichi remarked, although there was one other more prominent reason for Naruto's fame. The young blond male only smiled sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head and chuckled lightly.

"How about we go inside and you and Yugito can get this over with?" Naruto offered, trying to divert the attention away from him, walking past Inoichi before inserting the key into the lock and pushing open the door after an audible click.

Yugito entered the small apartment after Naruto, followed by Inoichi. Naruto flicked the light switch, illuminating the room as he looked over at Inoichi. The blond man was here to interview Yugito, so Naruto was just spectating, waiting for this whole thing to be over so that he could spend more time with Yugito.

"I know this is your apartment, but I'm going to have to ask you to step outside. This interview is to be done privately," Inoichi ordered, just in case this Yugito Nii was indeed a Kumogakure spy.

Naruto scowled at the fact that he was yet again being sent out of _his_ apartment. This was the second time in the past two days! Naruto sighed, bowing his head in defeat as he made his way to the door. It was just an interview, how long could asking a couple questions take.

Inoichi watched as the door of the apartment closed before he retrieved a clipboard from inside his flack jacket and a pen from one of his pockets. Inoichi took a seat in one of the spare chairs in the square room while Yugito took a seat on the bed.

Inoichi clicked his pen and jotted her name at the top of the form as he cleared his throat. "I am going to begin by asking you for some basic information. Please attempt to answer the questions to the best of your ability," Inoichi began in a professional manner. The last part was not necessary as the information was basic, but he was just following protocol.

Yugito nodded, signaling that she was prepared to answer Inoichi's series of questions. The young blond female was asked about her age, date of birth, any illness she might have or may have contracted in places outside of the village, if she had any family within the village and plenty of other questions of sort, Yugito rapidly answering them as best as she could. Upon the completion of the form, Inoichi clicked his pen and set it and the clipboard off to the side.

"We are making outstanding process, there is just one final check-up to this process. I trust that you have not been untruthful, but my superiors demand that I use a jutsu to check if you have lied on any of the questions I've asked you. I'm going to have to ask you to close your eyes and clear your mind, I will only be a second," Inoichi explained to the other blond in the room who looked unsure about doing as the man asked, not feeling safe doing what this stranger told her even if he did look like a pleasant enough man.

Inoichi sensed the uncertainty coming for Yugito as he spoke, "I assure you that I mean no harm to you." Yugito didn't look the least bit more certain with just that simple simple sentence, if anything, it made her more nervous. Inoichi sighed, not really blaming Yugito for how she was feeling, but there was still a chance that she could be an enemy spy and he couldn't risk his village for the discomfort of one girl.

"If it will bring you peace of mind, I will allow Naruto Uzumaki to spectate. Given his nature, should anything seem wrong, he will doubtingly act," Inoichi offered the young girl who smiled and nodded in the affirmative.

Inoichi rose from the wooden chair and strolled over to the door and turned the handle, which just happened to be enough to cause the eavesdropping Naruto to tumble in. Naruto groaned as he placed a hand on his injured head and slowly stood up, only to be dwarfed by Inoichi who was looking straight down at him with a raised eyebrow. Naruto turned a deep red in embarrassment, scratching his head as he looked down and away.

"Seeing as you were eavesdropping this entire time, I don't believe I need to inform you of anything," Inoichi pointed out, shaking his head as he retook his seat and Naruto took a spot leaning against the wall adjacent to the bed. Naruto gave Yugito a warm smile before continuing to watch the actions that would soon transpire.

"Well then. If everybody is prepared. Let us begin," Inoichi spoke once more, Yugito nodding as she closed her eyes and emptied her mind like she was ordered, feeling the hand of Inoichi Yamanaka placed lightly on her forehead.

* * *

**(Yugito's Inner World)**

Inoichi slowly opened his eyes to find himself in his new surroundings, just outside the mind of Yugito Nii. Inoichi Yamanaka was in the center of a large, spherical empty room, only occupied by a huge brain. The mind-reader floated over to the large brain and placed his hand on the brain.

"Here we go," Inoichi muttered to himself as he closed his eyes, concentrating on the information he would receive from Yugito's mind.

* * *

Kaminari No Kuni(Land of Lightning) was a peninsula, scarred by vast amounts of mountain from which rivers flowed downstream into the sea, giving the land a beautiful oceanic view despite its rough terrain. Down below the mountains, at the outskirts of Kumogakure, grew a rare forest that only increased the variety of wildlife located within the land.

It was a tranquil night in the forest bordering Kumogakure down below, the full moon above and scattered stars illuminating the land below. The air was filled with the chirping, chattering and hooting of wildlife, the sound of rushing rivers and crashing waterfalls which was amplified as it echoed through the mountain chains which encircled everything.

In these woods below, Yugito could be seen, stealthily leaping from tree to tree in a blur, trying to hide the tears in her eyes and stifling any cry that passed her lips. Her mind was a completely mess as she tried to focus on what was in front of her and her ultimate goal. It appeared that she was making great, unhindered progress when a massive figure a couple times her size appeared in front of her, cutting off her steady progress away from Kumogakure.

"Where do you think your running off to?" the large man spoke in an angry tone as he took a step forward, right into the moonlight. He was a tall, dark-skinned man with a highly muscular build, white combed-back hair, a small mustache and a beard. The man wore the yellow and white robes of the Raikage, gold bracelets on each wrist and a gold belt around his waist with a boar's face engraved in the center. Black fuma shurikens were tattooed on both his shoulders underneath the garb which he wore not shirt underneath. All these aspects gave the Raikage the appearance of a professional wrestler.

"I don't know, but I'll go anywhere than back there!" Yugito shouted, tears still in her eyes as she pointed in the direction of Kumogakure. Although it was completely pointless, Yugito stood her ground against her pursuer, despite the fact that he was the Yondaime Raikage, A. The one considered to be the fastest man alive after the passing of the Yondaime Hokage.

"You don't have a choice in this matter, Yugito! You are too valuable to the village for me to let you go and I will forcefully take you back if I must!" A threatened, taking one step towards Yugito who did not move from her position, but pulled a kunai from her holster and held it to her own throat. The Raikage stopped his progress towards Yugito and even took a step back, his eyes widened in surprise.

"If your going to make me go back there, than I might as well die here!" Yugito yelled, new tears streaming down her cheeks as she put more pressure on the kunai, drawing a small amount of blood as proof that she was completely serious with going through suicide if need be.

"Yugito?" was the only words that left the Raikage's mouth, too stunned to say anything else. The Raikage was a man who would stand behind his beliefs no matter what happened and he believed that a jinchūriki was nothing more than a weapon to be used by the village, but Yugito was family, he couldn't just let her die, let alone commit suicide.

"Ever since Mom and Dad died, everything went straight to hell! When Mom and Dad was around, everything was easier to bare, but since they left, the villagers have been treating me worse and worse! I barely have any friends and anybody that's not my friend either completely ignores me or hates me from the deepest parts of their hearts! I can't take it anymore! I know Kirabi is the same as me and the villagers like him, but I'm not like him! He's the perfect host, I'm not!" Yugito vented with tears flowing down her cheeks, off her chin and on to the kunai blade, mixing with the droplets of blood from her throat.

Yugito slowly began to get herself under control as she spoke almost inaudibly, sniffling in the middle of her sentence, "So please... step aside and let me go." A million thoughts and questions ran through A's mind and he did not have the time to think them through. He couldn't let one of Kumogakure's greatest assets leave the village, but he did not want his niece to die.

On one hand, he couldn't let one of Kumogakure's greatest assets in the making leave the village, but he also did not wish to have somebody so close to him die so suddenly. A had always hoped to be there to watch Yugito become a proud kunoichi and possibly even settle down with somebody and have a family.

'I'm the Raikage first goddammit,' A cursed himself, annoyed that his own bleeding heart was keeping him from doing what was best for his village.

With his new mind set, A thought through his options. He could attempt to take Yugito back to Kumogakure, but she would soon find and opening to kill herself and if he kept her on lock-down, she would no longer be an asset to Kumogakure. The other option was to let her go, maybe let her cool down and get her back on another day.

'Why am I lying to myself? There is another option... I could kill her and reseal the Nibi in a different person,' the Raikage thought, sighing at the idea of having her killed. Even if it wasn't by his own hand, it was by his orders and that still left him with blood on his hands.

'But if I was to kill her, I wouldn't know when the Nibi would appear again and if it was to appear it would cause mass destruction in my village. I can't let that happen. My best bet is to let her go and hopefully get her back another day. In terms of military power, we still have B,' the Raikage finally decided, once again returning back to the situation at hand, noticing that Yugito was waiting for his decision.

A had to give persuading Yugito another try, "So your just going to leave everything behind. You're going to leave Kirabi, Darui, C, Samui, Omoi, Kurai and me too! What are you going to do on the run by yourself? You think somebody will just pick you off the streets and make your life happy? That's not how it's going to work! If you run, you could die out there!"

"I know it's not going to be easy and I'm going to miss everybody a lot. I really will, but this is something I have to do," Yugito assured him, her voice nearly failing her as she would deeply miss everybody the Raikage had just mentioned.

"Very well then. If this is your decision, I will not stop you... You will be missed," A finished, turning away from Yugito as one manly tear fell from his right eye. Yugito felt her heart drop, as this would be the last time she would see the Raikage for a extended period of time, maybe even forever.

Yugito, acting on impulse, gave the Raikage a quick hug from behind as she spoke softly, "Thank you, Ji-san." After delivering her final thank you to the man she called her uncle, Yugito bolted past him, not looking back.

Meanwhile, Inoichi was hovering above the scene in an astral state, spectating the memory, his eyes wide at who Yugito Nii actually was and how she had ended up coming here. The memory itself was enough to bring a grown man to tears and it nearly made Inoichi tear up had he not been experienced at this sort of thing. This memory also brought up a huge question to the forefront of his mind and he was determined to get his answer before he left.

Inoichi was going to move on to the next memory when suddenly, a dark hole just tore open in the sky and blue, flame-like chakra shot through and ensnared him. Inoichi futilely struggled against the vile chakra, but was unable to break away or stop his telepathic link with Yugito as he was pulled into the hole from which the chakra came.

In a bright flash of light, Inoichi opened his eyes to find himself in front of a huge gate, face to face with a giant, two tailed cat made up of black and blue flame-like chakra. It had one green eye and one yellow eye and its teeth were bared angrily, showing off its razor sharp canines. Inoichi nearly had a heart attack upon seeing the bakeneko and it took all his willpower not to pass out when it actually spoke!

"**I shall warn you once and once only, human! If you dare return to the mind of my container, I will show you a hell that you could not imagine. I will burn your flesh, tear your body to pieces and crush it into fine powder. And since you are in the mind of my container, I will return you back into your original form and repeat the process over and over again! Watch yourself, human!"** the Nibi finished with a bestial roar that made Inoichi's heart want to exploded. In an instant, Inoichi was thrown back into his own body and out of Yugito's mind.

* * *

Naruto watched in silent boredom, having grown tired of seeing no movement for the past several minutes. It looked like both Inoichi and Yugito were both in some sort of deep trance, so when Inoichi suddenly screamed and fell back in the chair he was sitting in, Naruto was completely shocked and surprised.

Naruto hurried over to Inoichi and helped him to his feet as Yugito began to regain her consciousness after being put in that trance, finding it odd that Naruto was helping Inoichi to his feet, feeling like she had missed something.

"Are you okay, Yamanaka-san?" Naruto inquired, seeing that man was still trying to regain his breath as if he had been holding his breath underwater for an extended period of time.

Inoichi took a couple deep breaths, calming his racing heart, shocked at what he had just discovered about this young girl. Not only was she the niece of the Raikage, but she was the jinchūriki of the Nibi!

"Yes, I'm fine. It's just that the technique that I used to interview Yugito-san takes a lot out of me," Inoichi lied, not telling that his technique involved reading the mind of his target. Yugito didn't see any issue with it, having missed Inoichi's scream just a moment ago, but Naruto was not fooled, his suspicions rising.

'If the technique gets you tired, than why did you scream and fall out of the chair? There's something your hiding,' Naruto thought to himself, but put on an understanding expression to hide how suspicious he actually was. Naruto was extremely skilled when it came to hiding his real emotions and it came in handy in situations like this one.

"I have everything I need and I'm pleased to inform that you passed with flying colors, Nii-san! Please come to the Hokage's office in forty-five minutes where the final steps will be completed," Inoichi instructed as he said his good-bye's and exited Naruto's apartment in a silent hurry that also did not escape Naruto's attention who narrowed his eyes, trying to understand what was going on.

It took a moment before Naruto realized that Yugito was still in the room, removing the deducing look on his face and put a big ol' happy grin, "Great job, Yugito! All we have to do now is see Jii-chan and you can stay here! I can't wait!"

Although that was what Naruto verbally stated, in his mind he thought, 'I don't know what he's hiding, but I'm going to find out.'

"Neither can I! Konoha is such a great place, I can't wait to be allowed to stay here!" Yugito remarked, feeling a pang of guilt when a small thought of Kumogakure came back to her. Naruto was extremely happy for her and would have loved to stay and celebrate a little longer, but he needed to leave quickly.

"It's been awhile since we ate anything and I'm starving! I'll go grab some food to eat and I'll be right back as quick as a flash!" Naruto rushed, waving a quick good-bye and darting out of the apartment before Yugito could argue that she wanted to come too. Yugito sighed at Naruto's rambunctious disposition and laid down on Naruto's bed, deciding to wait for her spontaneous friend.

* * *

Naruto was hopping from rooftop to rooftop building more and more speed as he rocketed towards the Hokage Residence. Inoichi was just barely visible in the distance as he was also moving at high speed as if he had found some urgent information. That speed that Inoichi was moving at only heightened Naruto's interest as he continued his pursuit. Inoichi, in his single-minded thought of delivering his Intel, Inoichi did not notice Naruto tailing him which was a rookie mistake for someone of Inoichi's caliber.

Naruto, using his heightened senses, watched as Inoichi entered the Hokage Residence. Knowing that he would be discovered if he got too close, Naruto hid in a fast food restaurant just far away enough for him to be able to hear the goings within the Hokage's office. Naruto never paid attention to his heightened senses much, but at the moment, he was thankful that he was gifted with the perceptive senses.

* * *

"Hokage-sama!" Inoichi called loudly as he came bursting through the door without knocking as he normally would, immediately falling to one knee and bowing his head in a sign of respect. This sudden entrance peaked the elderly Hokage's interests at what Inoichi had to say that was so urgent.

"What is it, Inoichi?" the Hokage inquired calmly, despite the fact that he was actually very curious rather than indifferent. Hiruzen was well aware that Inoichi had been interviewing Yugito and since Yugito wasn't with him the old Hokage was almost certain that Yugito was not an enemy spy. So the question was: what else could have come up?

"I apologize for the disturbance, Hokage-sama, but there is something urgent you must know about the newcomer, Yugito Nii-," Inoichi began with an apology before continuing with the main point of his arrival, but was then stopped by the firm, raised hand of the elderly shinobi.

"Before you continue, Inoichi. If it truly is as important as you are making it sound, please, make sure that there is nobody eavesdropping," the Hokage ordered of Inoichi politely as he dismissed his ANBU personal guard with a flick of the wrist. Inoichi nodded dutifully as he made one hand seal and closed his eyes, scanning the area around the office for anyone nearby while also checking for any hidden chakra signals or chakra signals that hinted the use of a jutsu. Inoichi, however, did not find such chakra signatures and gave a firm nod to the Hokage, showing that hey were safe to speak without being overheard.

The Sandaime Hokage understood the gesture before motioning for Inoichi to continue. Obeying the order, Inoichi spoke, "Yugito Nii is not just any ordinary citizen from Kumogakure. In fact, she is the niece of the current Raikage!" Inoichi paused as he gave the Hokage time to digest the information being fed to him while also regaining his own composure, feeling as if he nearly degraded himself into a gossiping school girl rather than an intelligence shinobi.

Meanwhile, the Hokage was in complete and absolute shock at hearing this. It was not rare for somebody to come to Konohagakure to settle down, but they were usual just another common person. So then, why in the world would the niece of the Yondaime Raikage come to Konohagakure if she was not a spy? Wanting to know more, the Raikage saved his questioned and gestured for Inoichi to proceed.

"But that is not the most important piece of information that I have derived, Hokage-sama... Yugito Nii, is also the jinchūriki of the Nibi!" Inoichi exclaimed in a whisper, watching as the eyes of Hiruzen Sarutobi widened to lengths that they have never opened up to before. This was completely unexpected and this only made Hiruzen more curious about how Yugito managed to get away. Was Kumogakure... incompetent?

"This surely won't sit will with the Raikage," the Hokage commented with an anxious feeling building within him. It was worse enough that Yugito Nii was the niece of the current Raikage, but to also be a jinchūriki made the situation that much more worse and complicated.

The Hokage knew that the Raikage would not start a war with Konohagakure in order to obtain just one person, but they could send a couple shinobi in a rescue attempt or possibly demand back what was theirs first. The Hokage was not sure if Yugito was followed by Kumogakure shinobi, but depending on whether or not she was or wasn't would decide the amount of time before they would have to make a confrontation with the other hidden village.

Hiruzen was then surprised to hear what Inoichi had to say in response to his comment, "That is what I would have believed as well, Hokage-sama, but while I was looking through her mind, I came across the memory of the night she left Kumogakure," Inoichi began, setting up the stage for the rest, taking a brief pause before continuing, "Like all jinchūriki, she was treated horribly in her village to the point where she would rather commit suicide rather than return to her village. The night she left, the Raikage himself stopper, but she demands that she was let go or she would kill herself right than and there. The Raikage looked conflicted but had a soft spot for his niece like we all would and allowed her to leave. This concludes my report."

The Hokage remained silent after Inoichi's report, think over what he should do from this point on. Konohagakure now had two of the nine bijū, but would the Raikage sit well knowing this. The relationships between Konoha and Kumo were strained as they were and this could only degrade those ties even further. Much was unknown at this point, but the Hokage decided to set it aside for later contemplation.

"Although the situation is complicated. We will allow Yugito citizenship and deal with Kumogakure when the day comes. I will take precautionary measures for the time being. Thank you for all your work Inoichi and I expect to see I full report of your findings hand delivered to me soon. Also, all that has been learned about Yugito Nii as of today is to be labeled an S-rank secret and not be shared with anyone unless given my direct approval. Are we understood?" Hiruzen finished the nights discussion as Inoichi nodded in the affirmative, understanding the importance of the intelligence as he was dismissed by the Hokage, leaving the clipboard with Yugito's basic information written on the elderly man's desk just before exiting the office.

'The simple-minded desire to blame somebody for something that happens is causing the loss of innocence in such pure children. If only people could look past the Kyūbi and see that Naruto is actually a good boy. The only reason he pulls those pranks is to get recognized by the people of Konoha. At least he'll have somebody that's lived through the same thing close by from now on,' Hiruzen Sarutobi thought to himself with a sigh, but yet a small smile as if the future looked bright for the blond-haired boy. The Sandaime Hokage once again went to contemplating the chance outcomes of their encounter with Kumogakure and what should be done as a precaution.

* * *

Naruto was bounding from building to building back to his apartment with a rather content look on his face. Naruto had left after hearing the Hokage say that Yugito would be granted citizenship since that was all that really mattered to him and even more so to Yugito. The young blond male however was not completely ignorant to the rest of the conversation and although he didn't understand certain parts, what he did understand caused some conflicting emotions to rise from him.

Naruto had not the slightest idea of what a 'jinchūriki' was and who exactly the 'Raikage' was, but decided not to dwell on the words for too long. He wouldn't be able to figure out the meaning of the words anyways with the knowledge that he was currently limited to and he decided that he would be more advantageous to remember the words for another day.

Something Naruto had not been at all pleased by was the fact that Yugito privacy had been violated without her consent. It turned out that Naruto's suspicions were correct and this so called 'Lie Detector Jutsu' was actually a 'Mind-Reading Jutsu'. Naruto had half-mind to tell Yugito about it, but the only thing that stopped him from telling her was because the Hokage was just being cautious like any good leader would. Also, if he did actually decide to tell Yugito, how would he go about telling her in such away that she wouldn't feel like Konohagakure wasn't exactly the place she thought it was.

Naruto wanted Yugito to think of this place as a type of heaven and that feeling was mostly due to his eavesdropping a few minutes ago. Naruto had been allowed some insight into Yugito's past through his spying and what he had learned just didn't sit right with him.

Naruto clenched his fists and gritted his teeth as he thought about Yugito being treated horribly in her village just like he himself was, but it didn't even end there! She was pushed to suicide of all things and had nearly killed herself if she hadn't left that village when he did. The thought of Yugito taking her life just because she was being bullied by her village left him sick and momentarily hating the people that accused her and to a certain extent, those that treated him the same way.

Naruto had a small desire to talk to Yugito about her past, but had decided against it since she would than follow to ask about how he came to know what he did and it would just cause trouble for everyone. Besides, it wasn't any of his business and if Yugito wanted him to know, then she would have told him. He would have to wait until she felt comfortable enough with him to tell him of her past. Basically, if he deserved to hear it, then he would hear it.

'Even if she doesn't want to tell me, I'm not just gonna sit by and pretend that I didn't hear anything. I'm gonna make sure that she has such a great time here that she forgets all about Kumogakure,' Naruto confidently thought to himself, the fires of determination kindling in his eyes.

Naruto's eyes wandered down to the plain white plastic bag that he was carrying in his right hand which contained the food that he had purchased from the store he had used to eavesdrop. Naruto wondered if it tasted any good since it had been the first time he had ever bought anything from there. Naruto couldn't even remember the name of the restaurant!

Their were only too small, white, foam containers so Naruto knew that it wasn't going to be as filling as he had hopped, but if it tasted any good, than it probably would matter about the quantity. Quality over quantity, as some people would say.

Naruto couldn't even remember the name of the dish but knew it had something to do with rice and chicken. Naruto hadn't really been paying attention to what he had ordered since he was so focused on listening in on the Hokage's conversation, but at the moment, he had wished he had been more aware. Than again, he didn't have much money left on him anyways, so he did do the best he could with what little he had left.

"It doesn't matter if I don't like it, I just hope Yugito does," Naruto quietly murmured to himself with a sigh as he increased his speed, realizing that he had unintentionally kept Yugito waiting a lot longer than he had should have.

* * *

Yugito, who had been patiently waiting for Naruto to return with their dinner was now pacing in circles in the small apartment, silently wondering what was taking him so long to return. Could it be possible that he got into some sort of trouble along the way? Nah, Naruto knew this village too well to just fall into any trouble. He just probably got distracted by something or there might be a long line at the place he went to.

Calming down her overacting imagination, Yugito looked around the room to find something to do. The apartment was rather scarce since Naruto didn't look like the type of person to spend much time indoors, but Yugito's eyes soon fell on the multiple shopping bags Naruto had put down off to the side when they had entered with Inoichi Yamanaka.

Looking down at her worn-out clothes and then back at the shopping bags, it only took her mind a second to process what she would do next as she pranced over to the bags and inspected the contents of each bag, looking for which one contained what she was looking for. What Yugito was looking for exactly, was the attire she had selected that she would be wearing pretty much daily upon becoming a kunoichi. Just like Naruto had his orange jumpsuit, she also needed her own style.

Finding the bag she required to make her new shinobi attire possible, Yugito retreated into the bathroom to get training and see how it looked on her, although she had tried it on once before in the changing room. She hadn't shown Naruto yet in hopes of surprising him later on. This was her chance!

Yugito quickly began undressing herself, eager to try on her new clothing. Hastily pulling her old shirt off her body, Yugito reach down and dropped both her pants and pantie in one swift movement. Now completely bare, Yugito rummaged through the shopping bag till she removed a black short-sleeved undershirt and a sleeveless, light-purple zip-up over shirt. Along with the upper part of her attire, Yugito retrieved a pair of standard shinobi pants, preferring the pants over a kunoichi skirt or shinobi shorts. Yugito also followed to fetch out a plain black bra and black panties that would be worn under.

Yugito pulled on her panties and slipped into her bra before stepping into the black shinobi pants. Yugito then picked up the black shirt and threw it on, before putting on the sleeveless over-shirt, zipping it all way up. Finally being fully clothed, Yugito looked herself over in the mirror, her eyes falling on her long blond hair that reached down to her mid-back with two strands going over each shoulder and down to her chest.

Yugito was well aware that leaving her hair alone while being a kunoichi was out of the question as it would only get in the way. Yugito gathered her hair up as if preparing to make a ponytail but instead, tying it into a messy, yet stylish bun. The strands that went over her shoulder were left as was, Yugito deciding that it looked better that way.

The blond-haired teen looked herself over in the mirror, viewing herself from the front, her left side, her right side and finally her back. If anything, Yugito felt that she liked her attire more now than when she had actually purchased it. Yugito offhandedly wondered what Naruto would think of her new appearance, but she wasn't given the chance to think about it as she heard the door of the apartment open and close with an audible 'BANG'.

"Foods here, Yugito! Where'd you go?" Naruto called for her as he placed the plastic bag with their dinner on the small table that was encircled by only two chairs.

"I'm right over here," Naruto heard Yugito voice coming from the bathroom behind him, causing him to instantly freeze up. Hell if he wanted a repeat of the bathroom incident. Seeing him go stiff, a confused look came upon Yugito's face.

Naruto slowly turned his head, his shoulders tensing just in case. Not hearing a halting command, Naruto felt a little more comfortable and turned all the way around until Yugito came into view. Naruto's eyes widened at Yugito's appearance as a light blush stained his cheeks.

Was this a girl really the same age as he was? She was something on an entirely different level of beauty compared to the other girls in his class? Naruto was completely breath taken as he began stammering incoherent words of praise.

"Y-you look... wow," Naruto remarked, taking in her figure which was akin to that of an hourglass with an expression of awe. Yugito blushed at his expression, giggling a little as she held her hands behind her back, feeling a little bit shy.

"So... what did you get us?" Yugito diverted Naruto's fixed attention as he snapped out of his stupor, looking at the plastic bag that he had left on the table.

"It's not ramen. I'll tell you that," Naruto responded, realizing that Yugito had eaten pretty much nothing but ramen since it was his favorite thing to eat. He had hardly given it a thought of whether or not Ichiraku Ramen had been to her liking.

"That's new," Yugito replied, taking one of the seats around the small wooden table before pulling two foam containers out of the bag. As Naruto took the remaining seat, Yugito placed one of the packages on his side of the table. Opening up the their dinner, they were immediately greeted by a warm, great-smelling aroma.

The fragrance caused a deep rumbling noise to sound from both of the blonds' stomachs as they took the complimentary chopsticks and called out in unison, "Itadakimasu!"

Putting in the first chopstick full of the rice and chicken, Naruto realized that it tasted unexpectedly great, but was more worried if the food was to Yugito's liking. Naruto's knew his answer when he saw Yugito's eyes glitter in childlike happiness and satisfaction as the speed in which she was eating instantly increased. Naruto smiled as he too began eating at an accelerated rate, not wanting to be left behind.

The meal itself wasn't exceptionally filling as it was not in the same quantity as any of their previous meals, but it was enough to get them through the rest of the night till they went to sleep. Besides, they had eaten a big breakfast and a relatively large lunch.

Naruto decided to clean up which wasn't all too difficult as he discarded the foam boxes in the garbage bin. Yugito, meanwhile, look outside and seem to go through some small mental calculations. "Isn't it about time we met the Hokage?" Yugito inquired of Naruto who also thought about it for a moment.

It should have been about forty-five minutes since Inoichi had left. Naruto had taken a little longer than suspected to return to the apartment and they did take some time eating their dinner, so it should be time to leave. Although, even if it hasn't been forty-five minutes, Naruto was sure the Hokage wouldn't mind if they arrived a little earlier than expected.

"Yea, let's get going," Naruto answered with a nod, stepping out of his house after Yugito, closing the door behind him. With one more nod, they jumped to the nearest rooftop and with Yugito right next to him, they sped away to the Hokage Residence.

* * *

Upon arriving at the Hokage's Residence, Naruto and Yugito were immediately allowed up since they already had an appointment and the Hokage was free at the moment. Making their way up the stairs and through the hallways, they arrived to the Hokage's door fairly quickly. Naruto was reaching over for the knob at the door when he noticed that Yugito was lightly trembling. Naruto slowly moved his hand away from the knob and placed it on her shoulder, grabbing her attention.

"Is something wrong?" Naruto asked curiously, not seeing what there was to be scared about, but determined to make her feel more comfortable before moving any further.

"It's just... I'm a little nervous," Yugito answered feeling kind of embarrassed about it, since in her opinion, it was completely misplaced. Naruto didn't know what exactly was making her nervous since she didn't specify, but did his best to cover all the bases.

"There's nothing to be nervous about, Yugito. Jii-chan is really nice and you're already allowed to stay here. Jii-chan just wants to see you to congratulate you!" Naruto assured, fully knowing that what he spoke was the truth. Yugito felt relieved by Naruto's response which always seemed to settle all of her unreasonable worries. Seeing that she was ready, Naruto knocked on the door a couple of times, rather than simply waltzing in.

Naruto would not believe the relief that came upon the elderly Hokage's face when he heard a knock at his door. Hiruzen had been in the middle of doing the endless Hokage paperwork so he was extremely relieved to get this little break. The Sandaime Hokage gladly put down his pen and paperwork as he called to the visitor, "Enter."

As expected by the Hokage, Naruto and Yugito stepped into the room, greeting the elderly man. Yugito's greeting was far more formal than Naruto's had been or probably ever was. Seeing the two youthful faces full of anticipation, the Hokage had to let a grandfatherly smile escape him. Naruto let a small smile appear on his face, enjoying the familiar warmth that came from the Hokage while Yugito was completely new to the feeling.

"I'm sure you two don't want to spend too much time here so how about we finish up quickly since this is merely a formality," Hiruzen began seeing an increasingly larger smile appear on Yugito's face when she heard the word 'formality' while Naruto was trying to decipher what the word meant.

"Congratulations, Yugito Nii. As of today you have been realized as a citizen of Konohagakure," Hiruzen congratulated Yugito who grinned in happiness bowing as she thanked the Hokage from the bottom of her heart for letting her start anew. Naruto, who was right beside Yugito, jumped high into the air pumping his fist in the air in celebration.

"But there is however one last thing that we have to go over before you two can leave," Hiruzen continued with the meeting, Naruto moving to the back of the room and laying against the wall. Yugito merely looked at the Hokage curiously, wondering what was coming next.

Seeing the questioning look on Yugito's faces, the Sandaime Hokage proceeded with a dutiful tone of voice. "We have to discuss your living arrangements," Hiruzen told the blond girl, taking a brief pause before finishing, "I can refer you to a list of open apartments that I can offer you. Of course, you may take the list and look it over before deciding on one of them."

Yugito had stopped listening after she heard the words 'living arrangements'. Not once had the thought of moving into an apartment ever crossed her mind. Since she had woken up in Konohagakure, there had always been: Naruto. A young boy so energetic and childish yet calm and mature and yet knew how to make her feel safe and happy. Having been with Naruto this long, even if it was a couple days, gave her a feeling of belonging in Naruto's small, cozy apartment.

Yugito looked at the list of addresses on the Hokage's desk and back at Naruto who looking down and away. Yugito didn't want to be separated from Naruto since she felt so comfortable, but she didn't want to impose on his generosity. Yugito was extremely conflicted and had no idea what to do or say at the moment and it showed on her face.

Hiruzen's eyes narrowed as he began to take apart the situation in front of him. Naruto looked up, having avoided eye contact with Yugito and was now looking at the unsure expression on her face. Despite not being very knowledgeable on the things that most people his age knew, Naruto was very good at deciphering the thoughts and emotions of other people in certain situations. This skill was obviously more a lot more handy, but Naruto was not sure when he had even begun to develop this skill. He had gotten increasingly better at doing to so with time, to the point where he did it without thinking.

Deciding that it was time to act, Naruto pushed himself off the wall and put on a smirk as he interrupted, "That won't be necessary, Jii-chan since Yugito's going to be staying with me." The Hokage raised an eyebrow at Naruto's interjection while Yugito blushed at how embarrassing Naruto's claim sounded.

"That is," Naruto paused, Yugito looking up and making eye contact with Naruto as he finished, "if she wants to stay." Yugito actually felt her heart flutter within her chest as she smiled at Naruto.

"I'd like that very much," Yugito responded, Naruto giving a close-eyed grin as he placed both his hands on the back of his head, feeling rather relaxed at the moment.

The Hokage eyed the two blonds with a smile that was hidden by his hands. The Hokage felt like he had watched Naruto mature right before his eyes. Yugito was something not completely unexpected but not at all unwanted. Hopefully she would continue to be a positive influence on him. 'Makes you wonder how much he'll change,' Hiruzen mused to himself.

The elderly man cleared his thought audibly, getting the attention of the two blonds. "Although I don't want to interrupt your celebration. There are two things that I must inform you of," the 'God of Shinobi' explained, Yugito nodding in understanding while Naruto lightly sighed at his moment dieing as he went to lay on the wall again.

"The first thing I need to talk to you about is extremely important since you came to this village alone. Since you have no means of an income, I will be supplying you with... an allowance like I do with Naruto. You will continue be given so weekly and it will end once you become a shinobi and are paid through your missions," the elucidated. Yugito was rather happy as she thanked the elderly Hokage. Now she wouldn't have to solely look to Naruto when it came to money.

"And the last thing?" Naruto probed, not knowing what else the Hokage would need to discuss. That was the only benefit Naruto was pretty much given that was of any real importance.

"Your first day at the academy is tomorrow, so make sure to wake up seven o'clock sharp and immediately go to the main office. Tell them your name and they should put you in the right classroom... or you could just follow Naruto since he'll be in the same class as you," the Hokage informed with a smile. Naruto's eyes practically shined at the thought of him and Yugito being in the same class. Come to think of it, there was a seat open right next to him. That meant Yugito would be seated right next to him! What a stroke of luck!

"That's awesome! Thanks for everything, Jii-chan!" Naruto exclaimed with a huge smile on his face that mirrored the one that was on Yugito's. Opening the door after he and Yugito gave their good-byes, Naruto ran out with a spring in his step, Yugito right behind as they moved to return to 'their' home.

'The young ones these days grow so fast. Naruto, how much will you grow till the next time you visit me?' Hiruzen pondered with a chuckle as he rotated his chair to look out at the starry, night sky outside. Taking his pipe from within his desk, Hiruzen took a short break as he overlooked his village.

* * *

**Don't have anything else to say other than I'll have the next one out I hope tomorrow if nothing comes up.**

**Other than that, I never knew "I Am Number Four" was a series and it actually isn't that bad as I'm going, just finished the first two books and there are two more to catch up with.**

**Including that I got to finish up the seventh chapter so I can release it soon after i finish these first six, but anyways. I'll see you guys the next time I update.**

**-Reprise**


	4. Promise of A Lifetime

**Tyber Zahn **& **Quick-n-Popular: **I appreciate the review and here is the next chapter. Enjoy it!

**Once again, there isn't really anything to say other than, here comes the next refresher.**

* * *

**Worth Protecting**

**Chapter 4: Promise of A Lifetime**

Naruto was walking along the streets of Konohagakure with a happy spring in his step, feeling content about everything that had been discussed during Yugito's meeting with the Hokage. First, not only was Yugito going to be allowed to stay here in Konohagakure, but she also liked him enough to want to stay in the same apartment. She was also going to be in the same class as him in the academy which increased the likelihood of them ending up in the same team once they graduated. Everything seemed to be going his way for a change and he was enjoying every second of it.

Naruto had been completely ignorant to his surroundings in his cheerfulness and would have continued to be oblivious, had it not been for Yugito's voice snapping him out of it, "Hey, Naruto. Don't you think it got really dark out?"

Naruto actually looked confused for a moment before he realized that everything around him was pretty much pitch-black. Looking up, expecting to see a starry sky or a bright moon, Naruto was only greeted by ebony storm clouds that allowed no light to pass through. Moving his vision back down, he noticed that the lights that illuminated the road at regular intervals were also on, but the brightness was blurred by what appeared to be fog. Just how late was it?

Naruto couldn't remember a time he had stayed out this late since he always went to sleep early in order to get an early start the next day. Still, even if Naruto hasn't been around towards the late hours of the night he knew that it was dangerous for people to be outside at these times. Not to mention the fact that it looked like it was about to rain cats and dogs and Yugito was lightly clothed.

Scanning his surroundings, Naruto felt that they were very unfamiliar to him, almost as if he was in some foreign village. It might have been because everything seemed so obscure in the poor lighting, or possibly that he had never been to this part of the village; Whatever it might be, Naruto still felt lost.

'Where the hell are we?' Naruto wondered to himself, his gaze falling on Yugito behind him. Although he could barely see her, Naruto was aware that she was waiting for him to get her home. Naruto felt like cursing loudly at that point since he honestly could barely see his hand in front of his face let alone the way to get them home. It was mid-autumn, but what were the chances of there being rain _and_ fog at the same time?

Deciding to play it cool and not worry Yugito, Naruto spoke firmly, "Yeah, seems so. Let's get going home." Yugito nodded her head and followed Naruto whose pace had quickened by a certain degree.

While Yugito was waiting to see Naruto's apartment come into some view, Naruto was feeling more and more lost. Jumping to the top of a residential building, Naruto examined his surroundings for a familiar landmark, but unfortunately for the young blond, his keen eyesight felt blurred due to low hanging cloud. To not even be able to see the Hokage Monument or the Hokage Residence spoke wonders about just how bad it was.

"Yugito. Give me your hand. I don't want you to get separated from me," Naruto informed the blond girl, extending his hand behind him. Yugito blushed lightly and firmly grabbed his hand, noticing the low visibility. After feeling more than seeing her grab onto his hand, Naruto continued to make his way through the streets and occasionally jumping to the rooftop of a nearby establishment.

Yugito was beginning to get the idea that Naruto was lost soon enough, but decided to put her faith in him. If she said anything now, she'd probably just being stomping on his pride as a male. A minute more of moving around, Naruto saw a building where the lights were actually on.

To put it simply, Naruto wasn't a fan of asking directions since it made him feel incapable, but maybe he'd be able to figure out his location with the increased illumination. If worse came to worse, he'd suck up his pride and have Yugito ask for directions.

Naruto's stride quickened once more, Yugito followed close behind as they shortened the distance between them and the establishment. As the distance grew smaller, Naruto and Yugito were greeted by a bitter order and some sixth sense told Naruto that they weren't safe anymore. Yugito felt Naruto tense up slightly after seemingly noticing something that she had yet to.

'Shit! A bar,' Naruto exclaimed mentally, recalling how violent some people got when their minds were inhibited by all the alcohol they consumed. When under the influence, those drunkards could care less about any repercussions that would certainly come due to their actions. Those who were unlucky enough to fall prey to those binge drinkers had their lives in danger.

"We made a wrong turn, Yugito. Let's go back," Naruto's voice came out a little more shaken than he had wanted it to as he ushered Yugito back the way they came. Fate, however, had another idea as the door to the tavern slammed open and three men in casual wear walked out with a tankard of beer in hand.

"Well if it isn't the hell spawn," the first man spoke amusingly, his voice however was slurred as he spoke, making him nearly incomprehensible. Naruto gave Yugito's hand a squeeze while she looked shocked that he would call a sweet kid like Naruto a 'hell spawn'.

"Why don't you look at that? He's got a girl with him," the second drunk pointed out, speaking a lot more clearly, but it was obvious that he was just as inhibited as the first. Naruto felt his eyes widened as the three pairs of eyes settled on Yugito who looked shocked.

"Fuck it! Yugito, run!" Naruto order as he pushed Yugito in front of him, jumping away from rooftop to rooftop, trying to lose their pursuers. They were just ordinary citizens, and even if they were academy students, regular villagers had no chance of keeping up with a shinobi in terms of agility.

"Where do ya think your going?" the last man questioned in his inhibited speech, appearing in front of Yugito who immediately cut to the left and bolted away, Naruto following right behind with an expression of despair. Out of all the things those men could be, they just had to be shinobi, didn't they?

As Naruto and Yugito continued to run with the three shinobi right behind him, the two blond prey listened to the threats made on their lives by their predators. "Once I get my hands on you, little demon boy. I'm going to tear your arms off and beat you to death with them!" one of the hunters commented as the other two joined in, suggesting that they tied him to a tree and took turns throwing kunai at him or rather, set him on fire and watch him slowly burn to death. Naruto didn't have the time to think of which one was worse at the moment as he encouraged Yugito to move a little faster.

Naruto had an abundant amount of experience when it came to running away from other shinobi due to his incessant pranks. At this rate, Naruto would be able to keep this up for hours on end since they were only three in number. What Naruto was more worried about was whether Yugito had the stamina to keep on going? Yugito had stated that going from Kumo to Konoha was a long distance, so hopefully it would have been enough training. Then again, hitching a ride on caravans could get her pretty far.

After having gone through the options of what to do with Naruto, one of the drunks wondered out loud what they would do with Yugito once they captured her. "It'd be a waste to kill a piece of ass like that. We should just show her a good time," the second drinker suggested, a shiver going up Yugito's spine while Naruto's eyes narrowed at the despicable thought.

"Or we could sell her off. How much do you think somebody would pay to get in with her?" the last shinobi remarked, Naruto starting to cough in surprise as he wondered where the hell they even came up with these ideas while Yugito's pace picked up out of fear to the point where it became reckless for her.

Yugito was pushing herself to move far faster than she was able to and it proved to be more reckless than she first thought as she tripped, falling from the rooftop to the dirt ground below. Naruto gritted his teeth as he dove off the rooftop down the ground where Yugito was painfully rising off the ground.

In one swift movement, Naruto scooped Yugito up in his arms bridal style and began increasing his pace almost instantaneously. Yugito gripped onto his orange jumpsuit as she looked up at Naruto's focused face as he moved in front of him. Unfortunately for him, raw determination and focus were not going to make him run any faster and even though Yugito weighed practically nothing to him, he was still slowing down. That was all the opportunity those chasing them needed as they decreased the blond's distance from their immanent doom.

A deep frown appeared on Naruto's face as Yugito looked at him worriedly. Naruto looked down at her and than away as he threw her to her feet and turned away. "Get out of here, Yugito! This started because of me, you have no part here!" Naruto shouted her way as he watched the men close in.

Yugito opened her mouth to argue, but she wasn't allowed to speak before Naruto yelled once again, "No 'but'. Get the hell out of here! I won't forgive you if you get caught!" Naruto's words hit home as tears began to develop at the corner of Yugito's eyes as she turned around and dashed away, not looking back no matter how tempted she was.

The first brute, whose sole focus was grabbing Yugito, was completely left vulnerable to the spinning kick that sent him flying back into the ground. Naruto may still be a child, but his hits were so powerful they could barely be considered human. However, after completing the kick, Naruto was left vulnerable for an attack, the second man coming up to Yugito and smashing his glass tankard into Naruto face, shattering it.

"Ah," Naruto shouted as he felt the glass cut into his skin, drawing blood as he fell to the ground on his stomach. Naruto tried to jump to his feet, but he felt the weight of two men come crashing into his body, feeling two knees collide with his back and two arms holding each of his down.

Naruto coughed a little blood from the impact, but his own condition wasn't very high on his list of priorities. Naruto was more worried about Yugito since there were only two of the three holding him down. "Don't get caught, Yugito. Please don't get caught," Naruto muttered hopefully before his face was smashed into the dirt as he felt the two violent drunks kneeing him in the back while giving him no chance to scurry away.

'Wonder if they'll give me the chance to choose how I die. I think being used as target practice might be the least painful,' Naruto remarked to himself with a mental chuckle despite his situation, feeling completely resigned to his fate as he wasn't given a chance to fight it.

"How do you like that you little shit?" one of the two asked, knocking the poor kid onto his back and holding him down. The sadistic man placed his face near Naruto's as he drove his knee into the blond boy, taking joy in the pained expression on the blond's face. The second man looked content in just watching from that point on as he let his friend have his fun.

In response to the man's early question, Naruto smirked smugly as he spat on the man's face. "Go fuck yourself," Naruto told the man calmly, in a superior tone of voice, not caring for the situation he was in. Naruto wasn't one to speak too vulgarly because, before today, Naruto had never fought an enemy other than in a sparring match at the academy.

Naruto had pretty much declared that he wanted to die after that last action, but the thought of how much idiocy that must have taken to do something like that caused the defiled man's friend to chuckle. Hearing his friends laughter, the man who Naruto had spat on went redder than a tomato in rage. "You go fuck yourself, kid!" the enraged shinobi roared, once again beating on the poor kid who wouldn't let the ridiculing smirk leave his face.

Naruto's hands may have been restricted, but nothing would stop that mouth of his. "You punch like a girl," Naruto insulted even though he wasn't particularly sexist, getting a rise out of the attacker who continued his storm of punches.

"My bad. A baby hits harder," Naruto corrected himself as the punches came down that much more harder and faster, but they were getting sloppy and were beginning to hurt less and less. It wasn't Naruto's intention in the slightest; It was merely a bonus.

"I've seen prettier things looking at my toilet when I'm done using it," Naruto laughed at the man's face which only succeeded in pissing off the man till it almost looked like steam would begin shooting out of his ears.

"I would hit you, but from what I've learned. It's rude for men to hit women," Naruto shot off another one in between punches. Whether it was a good or bad thing that Naruto was on fire today was completely up to the spectator as Naruto had not intention of stopping.

For a moment, it had looked like Naruto was out of insults as the man cocked a punch back, waiting to hear what the bloodied boy had to say. "Straddling me like this makes me wonder what team you swing for." Everything went dead silent, almost as if the two shinobi were trying to process the meaning.

"Damn," the drunk on standby remarked in a prolonged fashion, letting off a long whistle in both praise and surprise with a hint of pity. It was obvious Naruto had resigned himself to the punishment and was going to heckle them until he died.

Naruto was about to make a comment about the man's birth being an accident, but as the young male opened his mouth, he heard something that made his heart falter. "Let go of me!" a feminine voice shrieked in pain, Naruto turning his head slowly to the side to see Naruto in the grasp of the man who had been sent to chase her.

The brute who had been punishing Naruto let out a mad laugh as he spoke to Naruto, "What's wrong brat? You were being such a wise ass be-." The amateur shinobi made the mistake of loosening his hold on Naruto and was greeted by an uppercut, knocking him off the short academy student.

"Naruto! Run!" Yugito commanded, tears in her eyes as she looked at her companion's bludgeoned face, wondering how he could keep a smirk on his face in his condition.

"Don't ever tell me to run! If I leave this place, it'll be with you!" Naruto told her, but sadly his sight was blurred from all the blood and couldn't do much to block the assault from the two elder shinobi, leading him to be held down the way they previously had him.

"Bastards! It's me you want! Leave Yugito alone!" Naruto roared at the two before his face met the dirt once again. Yugito at this point had tears falling from her eyes. It wasn't the fact that she was going to be violated by these three lecherous men, but the fact that Naruto was taking such a brutal beating to keep her safe even though they barely knew each other. Despite everything, Naruto was still completely hell-bent in keeping her out of harms way.

"Oh, so you care about this girl that much, shithead. How about we show you what she looks like when she gets the taste of a real man?" the failure of a shinobi holding Yugito remarked, as he began unzipping the struggling Yugito's over-shirt.

Naruto cursed as he futilely tried to gather his strength, only to find he didn't have much left. Naruto closed his eyes in his momentary anger at not only what was being done to Yugito, but he was angry at his own weakness.

_'Like all jinchūriki, she was treated horribly in her village to the point where she would rather commit suicide rather than return.'_ The words of Inoichi Yamanaka that Naruto had overheard played in his head over and over again like broken record, Naruto looking up to see Yugito's over-shirt get taken off her.

Naruto's angry grew at an exponentially rate as Inoichi words stung Naruto's very being. Unknown to Naruto, his hair began to stand up on end. The rapist was now tearing away at Yugito's shirt, revealing the black bra underneath and her toned stomach.

_'Even if she doesn't want to tell me, I'm not just gonna sit by and pretend that I didn't hear anything. I'm gonna make sure that she has such a great time here that she forgets all about Kumogakure.'_ Naruto's own words came back to haunt him as they echoed in chorus with Inoichi's. Naruto clenched his fists sharply, drawing blood as his canines grew, gritting his teeth in rage and frustration.

'Was this how I was going to make sure she had a great time!' Naruto cursed himself as he felt his wrath build up to its peak, a sensation of raw power running through his veins, filling his entire body.

Naruto watched as Yugito went unconscious from shock, her body going limp in her attackers arms. That was the last straw as Naruto eyes went from a beautiful blue to blood red and slitted. A burning red aura came off Naruto's body, completely unnoticed by the blond as he let off an incredible, bestial roar.

Naruto had snapped at this point and that fact caused a feeling of fear and despair to settle into the hearts of the three men. Naruto removed his arm from the thug's restrictive grip as he smashed his elbow into one of their faces. A sickening crunch was heard and the first man was sent sprawling on the ground with his face seemingly caved in.

Standing up slowly and demonically, Naruto set his eyes on Yugito and, more specifically, the dirty man holding her. Foolishly enough, the second man that had been binding Naruto thought he could manage a sneak attack, so he was shocked when Naruto caught it by the wrist.

Naruto turned to the man who watched in shock as all the cuts and bruises on Naruto's face healed at a rapid pace. The dead man let off a scream of horror which was only follow by another as Naruto tore the brute's arm right off his torso before quite literally, batting him away with it. The second man was left lying in a pool of his own blood, missing an arming, and no doubtingly had a hole in his ribs.

The blood from his two victim's stained Naruto hair, face, clothing and hands as he tossed the severed arm away. Looking over at the perverse male holding Yugito, the final victim was paralyzed in fear and was not even given the chance to turn around, let alone run away. Naruto was already upon him, grabbing the man by the face and slamming it into the ground, creating a small crater.

Naruto, at the same time, had taken Yugito from the final drunks hands and now was placing his foot on the man's face. Without the slightest bit of remorse, Naruto put pressure on his foot and put the man's head into the ground.

Looking away, Naruto moved Yugito so he was carrying her bridal style and walked away from the scene of carnage. The sensation of power that had surged through him abruptly ended and Naruto fell to his knees, clutching Yugito to his chest so he wouldn't drop her.

Blinking as if waking up from a dream, Naruto looked around at the bloody scene around him. The three men around him were either dead, or unrepairable. Naruto followed to look up at the amount of blood that had fallen on his hair before looking down at the dark liquid that soaked his clothing and the palms of his hands. Naruto did not need to see the amount of blood that was on his face to know there was a lot there, but he couldn't seem to find the strength to wipe it off. What the hell had just come over him? Where did that strength come from?

'Where did all that anger come from?' Naruto contemplated, thinking back to all the rage that had seemed to suffocate his very being. Sure, Naruto was enraged at the fact that Yugito was about to be raped, but what he did could only be described as 'over the top'. Beating the three men, maybe killing them was justified, but Naruto had left each of them in a bloody, mangled heap.

Naruto had accepted the fact that shinobi were meant to kill, that much was taught at the academy. Academy students weren't even allowed to graduate unless their proctors felt their students would be able to get the job done. Naruto would get the job done when it was necessary, but that didn't mean he would like any second of it.

'The lives that I took belonged to people with family, friends, likes, dislikes, dreams and fears, just like any other person,' Naruto thought to himself sadly as he began to understand the weight, the value of a single person's life. Only those that understood this burden could become a respectable shinobi, while those who do not understand and just take lives, were only despicable human beings.

"It's heavy," Naruto mumbled, looking down at Yugito, who almost looked peaceful in her unconsciousness. The rain that had built up in the clouds above finally came down harshly, almost amplifying the depressing atmosphere around the young blond haired boy.

At the start of the rainfall, four ANBU operatives finally arrived at the scene in time to see Naruto place his orange jacket around the resting Yugito. In order to keep Yugito both warm and decent, Naruto followed to fully zip the jacket. That left the young blond boy in a light black t-shirt that was already soaked, leaving him with little warmth, but that didn't matter to him as he was only worried about Yugito.

The ANBU had obviously not seen what had exactly transpired, but they were able to get a good grasp just by viewing the aftermath. That, in addition to the outburst of the Kyūbi's chakra would be enough to give the Hokage a full report after they finished the clean-up. If everything wasn't cleared up by the morning, it would cause a panic among the civilians.

Naruto finally stood up in the rain, clutching Yugito defensively to his chest as he looked up at the downpour. Looking back down, Naruto noticed that the rain had dissipated the fog, leaving him with a clearer view. At this point, Naruto would be able to find his way back home. If only it had begun to rain sooner rather than later on in the night.

One of the ANBU agents slowly began approaching Naruto who calmly waited for the shinobi to speak. The ANBU was a woman, judging from the figure and she had long straight purple-hair and wore a porcelain mask that hid her face. It resembled a cat, having three red stripes, one going horizontally across each cheek and one going vertically down from the forehead. She wore the standard ANBU uniform, consisting of black and gray armor and arm guards. The woman had a katana strapped to her back with the signature ANBU tattoo on her right shoulder.

"Are you two alright?" the lady behind the mask asked with somewhat of a worried tone. Naruto found this somewhat new and refreshing as most of the ANBU he had ever spoken to were always so emotionless.

Naruto had a solemn look on his face as his eyes went across the scene around him and then back at his bloody hand. "Yeah. We just... lost our way home," Naruto told the purple-haired woman with a sigh. Naruto didn't have to even look at the ANBU agent behind him to know that she had a look of sadness on her face.

'Is it wrong that I feel like the greatest loss today was this boy's innocence?' the mask wearing woman mused before asking the short blond kid if he needed any help getting home. Naruto only shook his head, jumping onto the nearby roof and dashing off out of sight.

* * *

Naruto walked into his home with Yugito in his arms, closing the door behind him with the back of his foot. Moving over to the bed, Naruto sat Yugito up on it before removing the bloody orange jacket off her person. Ignoring the fact that Yugito was practically naked from the waist up, Naruto followed to place her under the covers comfortably.

Viewing Yugito's peaceful face, Naruto picked up the drenched orange jacket and moved to the dining table. Throwing the jacket onto one of the chairs, Naruto picked up the seat and moved it in front of his bed where Yugito was sleeping. Slumping down on the chair, Naruto had no attention of drying himself, changing clothes, or cleaning the blood out of his hair or off his face.

Naruto remained completely silent as he watched Yugito as she slept while listening to rhythm of the rain as it hit the windows and the rooftop. It was a chorus of noises that weren't particularly loud, but lulled the exhausted blond boy. Naruto remained so unmoving that if somebody was to look at the scene, it would look more like a portrait than reality.

Naruto's body may have been exhausted, but his mind was still at work. His thoughts were still concentrated on the events that had occurred just a few minutes ago. Naruto wasn't mulling over the fact that he had killed three people. Naruto found peace with himself about that already.

'Where did all the anger come from?' Naruto mused once again, remembering how his rage seemed to completely envelope him, burying his sense of reasoning and even his humanity. Naruto could hazily remember going through with the killing. It gave Naruto the feeling of waking up from a vivid dream, but having no recollection of every doing it.

Even so, this was not what was vexing Naruto most. That power that came with all that anger had ended up helping him save Yugito, but what if he ended up hurting Yugito the next time something like this happened. Naruto was not a mellow person and got angry rather frequently, sometimes over the most menial of things. Naruto's judgment and reasoning could be clouded at any moment and what was to say that he wouldn't end up hurting everyone around him instead of just the enemy?

Naruto's eyes, which had not left Yugito, finally looked down. What would Yugito think about him when she found out about him killing those three shinobi? Would she fear and hate him like all the villagers already did? This was what was bothering Naruto and he had no intention of concealing the truth that he had killed three people for her. Yugito deserved to know what had ensued after she went unconscious.

That last deliberation caused Naruto to think back to the fate that had nearly befallen Yugito. In the end, no matter how you looked at it, if Yugito had not been around him, than the three drunks would have never targeted her. Maybe it would be better for Yugito's safety if she just stayed away from him.

Despite the fact that Yugito was a close friend and Naruto didn't want her to leave him, he also didn't want to put Yugito's safety in jeopardy 'It was nice while it lasted,' Naruto sighed to himself, bowing his head and supporting it in the palms of his hands.

Naruto beginning to slowly doze as the minutes went by, when Yugito suddenly sat up and began shouting as she gripped the covers around her and began struggling against some sort of invisible force. "No! No! No! Get off of me! Let me go!" Yugito shrieked, completely unaware of her surroundings as he mind was still stuck in the past.

Naruto did his best to calm her down as he tried to stop her pointless struggling only to take a punch to the stomach and the jaw. Naruto ignored the pain, offhandedly noticing that Yugito's punches were heavy, as he continued shushing the hectic blonde.

Yugito soon began to settled down as Naruto out a breath of relief, falling back into his chair. Yugito took a moment to realize that she was back in Naruto's bed before spotting Naruto sitting in a chair to her right. Yugito's eyes first landed on his blood drenched pants before moving up to his black shirt that had a red hue. Continuing upward, Yugito's eyes stopped when they saw the amount of blood that was in his hair and the few droplets on his face. Most of the blood had been washed away by the rain on the way to the apartment which was probably a good thing as Yugito was already as worried as could be.

"Are you okay? You're covered in blood!" Yugito inquired fearfully as she scanned his body for wounds, but wondered why she was having trouble finding any.

"It's not mine." Naruto's reply was emotionless and his face was void of any childish happiness, adopting an expression of utmost seriousness. Yugito's eyes widened in shock as she lightly enclosed her fist and put it against her chest. Yugito's heart was beating increasingly faster her eyes scanned over all the blood that covered Naruto's person. Having used those words in that tone of voice, Naruto had made it completely obvious that he had drawn all that blood.

"What happened?" Yugito asked after a moment of silence, finally having decided that she wanted hear Naruto's response. She apprehensive about the response due to all the blood, but she felt that she had to know.

"Nothing happened to you and that's all the matters," Naruto remarked, giving her a solemn smile. Naruto didn't see any need to tell Yugito since she already knew, but was hoping that it wasn't so.

"So you _are _the one who saved me," Yugito pointed out, being completely sure that it was Naruto at this point. At first, she wasn't sure due to having lost consciousness, but everything she was hearing and seeing added up to the conclusion that Naruto had done everything

Naruto nodded in response as a frown appeared on his face. "You wouldn't have been in any danger in the first place if you weren't around me. What happened made me realize that it was a mistake for you to decide to stay here with me."

"It's not your fault," Yugito began to reassure the blond boy, but was immediately silence by Naruto who put his hand over her mouth. Naruto had an expression of maturity on his face like he did on the Fourth Hokage's head that one night.

"Please don't tell me it's not my fault," Naruto began, making firm eye contact with Yugito to make sure he got his point across before proceeding, "If you had been walking with anybody but me, they would have simply ignored you. The only reason they bothered noticing you was because they saw me first. Don't you see that as long as you stay around me, you'll be in danger!"

Naruto took a brief pause, removing his hand from her mouth before abruptly standing up and looking off to the side. "Tomorrow, I want you to go back to Jii-chan, take his offer in finding an apartment and forget about me. I don't want you getting hurt because of me ever again. I wish you happy life with your new start," Naruto told her, the last sentence coming out strained since this was hard for him too. Yugito was one of the few who actually acknowledged him as a person and now he was telling her to forget about him. Tears actually threatened to fall from his eyes, but his resolve did not waver.

Naruto was then suddenly enveloped in a hug, feeling Yugito wrapping her arms around his waist and placing her head on his left shoulder since he was looking away to his right. Naruto was shocked at the sudden act, but remained inflexible.

Yugito was making this a lot harder than it had to be, but he needed to sever these ties so she could be safe. "It would have been better if somebody else had found you that day," Naruto finalized in a bitter tone, feeling Yugito shake slightly.

"Please stop," Yugito's voice coming out shaken as a tear fell from her eyes and onto him. It was a single tear that fell, but the fact that more would soon follow caused pain to grip Naruto's heart. Naruto felt paralyzed since he had never wanted to see her cry, but here he was, being the one that caused it.

"Why do you have to talk like that?" Yugito began, tightening the hug a little bit before continuing, "You talk as if it would be easy for me to just forget about you! Since I came to Konoha, all I can remember is having a great time with you. It seems now, that whenever I think of the word 'Konoha', an image of your smiling face always comes up... I never said that I blamed you. If anything, I'm really happy that you would go so far for me. So please. Stop acting like you're somebody unimportant!"

That last sentence hit Naruto pretty hard because he didn't want to go back to being somebody practically nonexistent. Before Yugito had arrived, nobody had ever acknowledged, but now, here was Yugito, telling him that he actually is somebody important. A warm feeling washed over Naruto as he returned Yugito's embrace.

"I can't change your mind, so at least hear this," Naruto began, speaking as he placed his head on Yugito's left shoulder, "From this point on, I promise that I will protect you from _any_ harm."

Yugito had not heard the word 'till' and that was what she found completely shocking. Naruto was not only promising the he would protect, but, without saying till, meant that he would protect her for as long as he drew breath.

"Are you sure? Do you really mean that?" Yugito asked, seeing this promise as Naruto signing a pact to be her guardian angel. Was Naruto really going to put himself through all that?

"It's a promise of a lifetime." Naruto wasn't one to ever go back on his promises and with those six words, Naruto had assured her that he would always be there for her.

A moment of silence washed over them as Naruto's words settled in Yugito's mind while they were already imprinted in Naruto's. Lightly pulling away from her, Naruto pushed Yugito back on the bed. "Get some rest. We have to wake up early tomorrow," Naruto advised her, Yugito having completely forgotten about the academy after everything that had happened.

"Good night, Naruto."

"Sweet dreams, Yugito."

Naruto slowly walked away from the bed and back to his futon. The mere sight of his bed seemed to drain him of the last of his energy as he collapsed on the soft material. Naruto knew that he would end up dirtying the futon if he didn't clean all the blood off, but he could barely move a finger. Whatever that power he felt was, it had taken quite a toll. As soon as Naruto closed his eyes, he instantly fell asleep for some much deserved rest.

* * *

Naruto's eyes slowly opened to the sound of a knocking at his door. Naruto knew that it was way too early for him to be waking up due to internal alarm clock and was considering ignoring it. If Naruto had still been living alone he would have disregarded the knocking, but with the knowledge that Yugito was sleeping, Naruto jumped to his feet.

Naruto walked over to the door, getting ready to answer it when he remembered that his appearance was barely presentable. "Who is it?" Naruto asked through the door, deciding it was for the best and hoping that one on the other end wouldn't be too offended.

This visitor happened to be an ANBU agent who didn't seem to be phased in the slightest that Naruto wasn't planning on opening the door. The ANBU man's job was to get a message across; It didn't matter how he went about doing it. "The Hokage demands a meeting with Naruto Uzumaki. If you are him, I suggest you get ready and leave promptly."

Upon carrying out his mission, the masked man instantly turned around and disappeared, going back to his commanding officer. Naruto remained behind the door for a moment longer, a serious expression etched on his face. It was obvious that the old man wanted to talk to Naruto about the events of last night, so it was fortunate for Naruto that he was fully prepared for such an incident.

Turning around to make his way to the bathroom, Naruto's eyes looked outside the window to see that the sun was actually just barely beginning to come over the horizon. Naruto's face went into comical shock as he ran to the window, pressing his face against the glass. If the sun was just fuckin' rising, why the hell was the old man asking for a meeting?

Naruto began grumbling incoherently, his attitude for the day having gone completely sour. Naruto quickly stripped off everything but his boxers and threw them into the hamper in the bathroom before going into his room, which technically became Yugito's, and grabbing a new set of clothing out of the closet. Hastily, but quietly as not wake up Yugito, Naruto got dressed and went into the bathroom where he washed the blood out of his hair and off his face before brushing his teeth.

Being completely ready, Naruto slapped his cheeks, removing his grumpy face and attitude as he took a deep breath. Exiting the bathroom, Naruto took one last look at the sleeping Yugito before leaving the apartment.

* * *

Naruto arrived at the Hokage's door in a matter of minutes after leaving his apartment. The fact that the receptionist had not even been at her desk when Naruto arrived was a testament to how early it truly was. Naruto decided that knocking was pointless as he opened the door while announcing his arrival, "I'm here, Jii-chan."

Naruto entered to find the Hokage in his usual seat, facing the window with his favorite pipe in hand as he let out a puff of smoke. The elderly Hokage looked so much at peace and relaxed, having no work since it was before business hours. Slowly turning in his chair, the Sandaime Hokage responded, "I've been expecting you, Naruto."

Naruto had an idea of what this meeting was going to be about, so Naruto decided to just ask what was already in his mind. "How are the three from yesterday?" Naruto found himself asking, surprising Hiruzen who didn't think Naruto would go straight to the point let alone ask a question like that.

Hiding his shock, Hiruzen kept a rather indifferent look on his features as he let off another puff of smoke from his pipe before speaking, "They are in the hospital in critical condition. What will happen to them is uncertain at this point." Naruto was actually expecting that the three had died, so hearing they were merely hospitalized was astonishing. Although it didn't sound like they would be drawing breath much longer with the way Hiruzen made it sound.

The Sandaime remained silent for a moment as the thought of telling Naruto about his status as a jinchūriki came to mind, but after a moments contemplation, he decided against it. It would be best if he waited until somebody with expertise in fūinjutsu arrived in the village before he did something like that.

Since the elder was keeping quiet this long, Naruto decided that he might as well speak. "If you're going to punish me, Jii-chan, just go head and do it already," Naruto winged it, deciding to take any discipline that the Hokage was waiting to give him.

To Naruto's bewilderment, Hiruzen actually let out a hearty laugh as he responded, "You misunderstand, Naruto. I can't punish you for something that you did in self-defense and in the defense of others." Truthfully, the Sandaime Hokage felt proud of Naruto for fighting to save Yugito, but refrained from vocalizing his belief.

"I was given a detailed report of what happened yesterday, so I know what you did and why you did it. The reason I called you here was just to ask you one simple question," the 'God of Shinobi' added leaving Naruto with an indeterminable expression on his face.

Much to Naruto's interest, an austere expression fell on Hiruzen's face as he asked his question, "In all honesty and seriousness, how do you feel about what you did last night?" Hiruzen felt he had the responsibility to discover what path Naruto's loss of innocence put him on. Was Naruto going to be a shinobi who liked killing others? Was he going to become a pacifist? Did him killing three people leave him mentally unstable?

Hiruzen had lived a long, long time and had seen much in all his years, so he was worried about what would become of the boy he thought of as his own grandchild. In turn, Naruto hadn't anticipated such a question coming up, but looked away and closed his eyes for a few seconds as he took a deep breath. It was technique a lot of people used to gather their thoughts. In this case, Naruto was using it to remember what he had come to terms with last night.

Opening his eyes with a solemn expression on his face, something Hiruzen rarely ever saw, Naruto answered the elderly man's inquiry, "To be honest, Jii-chan. Yesterday, I don't remember what happened exactly or how I did it, but I killed three people. I felt... bitter yet I felt a sense of duty in doing what I did. If it could have been avoided, then I wouldn't have done it, but I had to save Yugito. If it came down to it, I'll what I did yesterday, but there's nothing enjoyable in doing it." Hiruzen had gotten the response he wanted to hear, but Naruto had gone far beyond his expectations. Naruto's words sounded like that of an experienced individual rather than an eleven year old boy. Those words, were the words of a shinobi that did what was necessary for his family, friends and village.

Hiruzen, however, was left speechless as Naruto proceeded after a moments pause, "Did you know, Jii-chan? That the burden... it's heavy." Now that was just profound and something that most adults never grew to understand, let alone a boy Naruto's age. This confirmed Hiruzen's suspicions; Naruto was a lot more mature and intellectual than most people gave credit.

Naruto was far too young, but he gave off the feeling of a wise old man in a way. Hiruzen felt the urge to see what Naruto would be like when he grew up. Hopefully, Hiruzen would be around long enough to pass on the title of Hokage to this boy one day. "Thank you, Naruto-chan. You do an old man's heart good. Keep Yugito safe," the elderly man thanked Naruto with a grandfatherly smile.

Naruto put a _genuine_ happy smile on, rather than the ordinary one he usually walked around with. Naruto turned his back to the Sandaime and strolled towards the door, putting a hand on the knob. "Thanks for everything, Jii-chan and I plan on doing anything to keep Yugito safe. It was a promise," Naruto thanked the old man back. Opening the door, Naruto gave the Hokage a happy good-bye before exiting into the hallway.

'Maybe I should visit Jii-chan more often,' Naruto thought to himself, actually having enjoyed his little talk with his grandfather-figure. Jii-chan was the first one to treat him like a person and thanks to him, he now had Yugito waiting for him back at home.

Exiting the Hokage Residence, Naruto looked up where the Hokage's office was with his hands in his pocket. 'Just watch, Jii-chan. I'm going to get really strong and I'll protect Yugito no matter what.'

* * *

**So until the tomorrow when I send you guys chapter 5...**

**-Reprise**


	5. So It Begins

**Author's Note:**

**It's been a really long time and there is nothing to blame other than my own idiocy. I ended up leaving my laptop at my cousin's house and was unable to retrieve it until just recently. I apologize for the long delay, but if its some sort of conciliation I finished the first arc of this story while waiting to retrieve my laptop and have been in the planning stage for the next arc.**

**Once again I apologize, please forgive me :/.**

**Here's the next chapter, sorry for the wait.**

* * *

**Worth Protecting**

**Chapter 5: So It Begins...**

'How should I go about training to get stronger?' Naruto mused seriously as he took his time strolling back to his home. It would still be another good couple hours before Naruto and Yugito had to go to the academy, so that gave him plenty of time to build on his thoughts.

It was becoming painfully obvious to Naruto at this point that all the self-training he had been doing was a complete waste of his time. No matter how hard Naruto tried, his progress was minimal at best. Maybe it was just his approach to his training that made his efforts fruitless?

Naruto was already three months into his third year at the academy and the concepts that most others grasped in one year he had not even done so till this very day. Three years and three months, that was how long it took for Naruto to perfectly use the Henge no Jutsu(Transformation Technique). Naruto was ninjutsu-oriented, but yet could barely grasp an academy level technique.

The Kawarimi no Jutsu(Body Replacement Technique) had come a little bit more easier for Naruto as he was able to manage it by the end of his first year. As for the Bunshin no Jutsu(Clone Technique), Naruto had made no progress at all, causing him to create failed images of himself.

Naruto's skill in shinobi tools, no matter how many times her practiced with them, could not manage to hit a target a far distance away with much accuracy. Naruto could hit a couple of them in the center, but the rest of them would either completely miss or hit the outer circle.

As for taijutsu, despite having learned the standard academy style for three whole years, Naruto was still the 'dead-last' of his class again despite them being their for only three months, although this was mostly due to the fact that they did a lot of training at home as well.

Naruto was also lacking in most basic shinobi knowledge to the point where he was considered a moron, but that wasn't completely right. Naruto was highly intellectual in his own way and showed a high level of skill when it came to the most important shinobi art: deception. Although this was overlooked since Naruto only used this aptitude in his daily pranks.

All in all, Naruto didn't have much skill for becoming a shinobi, but despite it all, he still dreamed of one day being the Hokage. Naruto had an unstoppable will and determination and always worked extremely hard for what he had achieved so far. It was those qualities that would allow him to become stronger. The only thing missing now was for Naruto to find an improved way of gaining strength.

Looking back at everybody in his class, most of them were part of an important clan. Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, Chōji Akimichi, Kiba Inuzuka, Hinata Hyūga, Shino Aburame and Sasuke Uchiha. Each of them had their own clan which possessed their own secret techniques which engraved the path they would follow to get stronger.

Naruto, and now Yugito, would both need to create their own paths to becoming stronger shinobi. Naruto knew that even if he managed to find his way, it would be a tough road paved with blood, sweat and tears. Naruto wasn't a genius like some certain individuals, but with enough hard work, even the 'dead-last' could surpass the prodigy.

Naruto was abruptly ripped from his thoughts by an exuberant yell, "Yes, Lee! Let the flames of youth burn bright! Onward, my student!" Naruto's face contorted into one of comical disbelief and confusion as he watched two people rush right past him at a lightning pace, but what was shocking was that they were running on their hands.

The older one was a man clad in green spandex with orange leg warmers and wore the Konohagakure flack jacket that most shinobi over the rank of chūnin wore. His Konohagakure forehead protector was worn as belt around his waist. The man had high cheekbones, ridiculously thick eyebrows and black hair cut in a bowl-style.

The younger one was dressed in a martial arts robe and belt with black pants and wore the Konoha forehead protector on his forehead. The young teen had the same thick eyebrows as the older one, rounded eyes and prominent lower eyelashes while his black hair was short and curved upwards in the back.

"Yosh, Gai-sensei!" the boy called Lee enthusiastically responded as he followed his role model, picking up speed as they became smaller and smaller in the distance.

'Is that some type of training?' Naruto mused with interest on his face as jumped into a handstand and took a few steps in that position. Naruto's interest reached an all time high as he realized that it was somewhat difficult to do. Looking back in the direction of the pupil and his master, Naruto was astounded to see that they were nearly disappearing from view.

'If they can move that fast while walking on their hands, they must be pretty strong. Maybe they can teach me too!' Naruto thought, forming a goal in his mind as he began chasing after the two of them on his hands. It seemed like the road to becoming stronger finally showed itself to the blond boy and he was more than happy to get on that road striding.

Naruto was well aware that running on your hands didn't necessarily mean somebody was strong, but something told him that eccentric 'Gai' would be able to make him strong. If Naruto turned out to be wrong and this road to becoming stronger was a total bust, he would just leave. On the other hand, if it turned out to be worth while, than it means he had hit the jackpot!

This road Naruto was on, both literally and figuratively, were being paved with sweat as Naruto was finding it more and more strenuous to follow the black-haired duo. However, this only made Naruto more enthusiastic and impatient about the thought of actually being training by them.

Naruto may have possibly been able to reach Lee and Gai if he hadn't given them such a head start and it might have been faster for Naruto to chase them on his legs, but what kind of impression would that make on his new teacher if he took the easy way out. Naruto would just have to hold up until the student and teacher decided to stop.

It was only after a good half hour before they finally jumped off their hands and back onto their feet. Their destination had apparently been the Konohagakure Training Ground as the taijutsu master and his pupil got ready to dash off into the forest to his and Lee's particular training area. "Yosh. Let's push on to continue your training, Lee!" Gai spoke in his loud tone of voice, pumping up his student before he realized that he was actually being ignored.

"What's wrong, Lee?" Gai inquired worriedly, finding it strange that his pupil had stopped in place with his head turned away from his beloved teacher. Lee was always enthusiastic when it came to training and followed Gai without a second's hesitation, so Lee's behavior was bizarre.

In response to Gai's inquiry, Lee rose his hand and pointed in the direction that they had just come from. Lee spoke both firmly and respectfully, "My apologies, Gai-sensei. I was momentarily distracted by the person following us." Gai, hearing Lee's reply, mirrored his pupil's gaze to see an orange jumpsuit wearing boy walking towards them on his hands.

Gai, being one of the Konoha's best jōnin, immediately recognized the boy following them and was genuinely interested in what he was planning. Lee, meanwhile, remained respectfully quiet as he wondered if this newcomer knew his jōnin-leader somehow.

Upon reaching the Green Beast of Konoha, Naruto got to his feet before startling Guy with a completely uncharacteristic bow. Naruto didn't particularly think of himself in high regards, but Naruto still didn't bow to just anyone, even if they were of higher status. So for Naruto to actually bow before someone else meant a whole lot, something Gai would come to realize later on.

Naruto had not planned out what he was going to say to his potential teacher, but something was telling him that this man would make him stronger. "I'm sorry for tailing you like this, but I was hoping that you would allow me to join your training," Naruto sincerely asked of the taijutsu master while keeping his head bowed low.

The fact that Naruto was looking straight down at the ground caused him to miss the amazed expressions etched on the face of not only Gai, but Lee as well. Their training had been considered insane and inhuman by a number of people, so to have somebody beg to join was something completely unheard of.

Naruto mistook the silence that had come over the three for Gai thinking about deny him. Naruto clenched his fists as he continued his pleading, this time speaking straight from the heart, "As I am now... I'm not strong enough to meet any of my goals... So please! Don't refuse me!"

Gai had been hesitant at first to take Naruto as his disciple due to his particular status, but after hearing Naruto's heartfelt words, Gai let a warm smile appear on his face. Naruto's desire to become stronger reminded Gai of his pupil, Lee and of himself when he had been young like them. How could Gai refuse Naruto now when he had already taken a liking to him?

Gai lightly placed a hand on Naruto's head, guiding the blond boy to look up. Gai gave Naruto a thumbs up and a bright smile, so white that it gave off a proverbial 'ping'. "I could never refuse a boy so full of youth!" Gai assured him in his own eccentric way, causing a large grin to appear on Naruto's face.

Gai was the leader of a genin team, so he had to put his students first of course, but Naruto stated that he wanted to join in Lee's training. If all Naruto wanted was to join Lee's training, than Naruto wouldn't necessarily take Gai's time away from his other genin. If anything, Naruto would help Lee improve since it always helped to have a training partner.

"From this day forward, you two will be rivals in taijutsu!" Gai decided on his own without consulting either of his pupils, leaving Naruto a little confused while Lee was already on board with his teacher. Lee already had a rival of his own, but didn't see anything wrong with having another. Naruto also had his own rival, but was also more than willing to accept Lee as another one.

"Don't be discouraged just because Lee has had a three month head start! With enough hard work and determination, you'll catch up in no time!" Gai encouraged his new student who nodded his head in understanding. Gai may have been eccentric, but that only seemed to spice up the way he raised his students.

Naruto was now even more sure that he had picked the right person to train him. Both Gai and Lee held hard work and determination in high regards much like Naruto did. It was only natural that three would hit it off so soon, which was only helped along by Lee's polite and accepting nature.

"Now then! Onward to begin your training!" Gai eagerly spoke as he began revving himself up as well as his two students before they all dashed into the forest.

"Yes, Gai-sensei!" both Naruto and Lee said in unison with a smile on their faces, following their teacher excitedly.

* * *

Yugito drowsily opened her eyes as her internal alarm clock rang, waking her up for the start of a new day. Sitting up in Naruto's bed, she sleepily rubbed at her eyes as she threw the covers off her body. After throwing her feet of the side of the bed, she slowly stood up with her eyes still half-closed. Feeling her way to the bathroom more than seeing it, Yugito walked into the lavatory before moving towards the sink.

Yugito turned on the faucet, cupping her hands on the streaming water as she bent her head down. Yugito repeatedly began splashing her face with the cool tap till she felt fully awake before finally turning the water off and drying her face with a nearby towel. Looking at the mirror above the sink, Yugito noticed the fact that she was still wearing the torn clothes from last night.

Stepping out of the bathroom with the thought of a fresh change of clothing, Yugito went to go to the bags where her clothes were located, but stopped midway as her eyes fell on the futon that Naruto had been sleeping on. The futon was empty and littered with small blood stains due to the fact that Naruto had been covered in it when he had gone to sleep.

The blood stains got Yugito a little worried, but remembered the Naruto had no wounds when she had looked for them. She was still tempted to worry since he was already gone, but decided to have some faith in him. Naruto must have had something to do in the morning and had gotten an earlier start so that he could still make it to the academy on time.

Deciding to leave Naruto be, Yugito continued to grab the couple of shopping bags from where she had left them before moving into the bedroom again. Rummaging through the bags for a moment, Yugito removed a fresh pair of what she had worn yesterday before quickly removing her tattered shirt from yesterday as well as her shinobi pants.

Yugito quickly put on the black shinobi pants and black t-shirt as she zipped up the sleeveless light purple over-shirt. The blonde placed the previously worn shinobi pants back in the bag before taking the torn shirt from last night and throwing it in the trash can.

Soon after disposing of the ripped article of clothing, Yugito felt a deep rumble in her stomach. Going over to the fridge, hoping to find something to eat for breakfast, Yugito was left disappointed as the shelves were completely barren. Taking a closer inspection, there was one thing inside the fridge: a carton of milk.

Milk just happened to be Yugito's favorite beverage so she happily grabbed it and closed the fridge. Yugito was completely satisfied with just this as her breakfast, but after opening the carton and giving it a whiff to see if it was fresh, Yugito's happiness was shattered. Yugito bowed her head in defeat as she threw away the spoiled milk, seeing as she was stuck with no breakfast.

'I wonder where Naruto went? I thought he was going to take me to the academy today,' Yugito wondered to herself, but sighed as Naruto must have had something important to take care of. The way Naruto had been so excited about it yesterday showed that he had no intention of missing her first day.

With that last thought, Yugito opened the door and locked it from the inside before closing it behind her when she exited. She would be coming back with Naruto most likely, so even if she didn't have the key it was best to lock the door. Taking a deep breath of the morning air, Yugito nodded her head as she walked in the direction of the academy which Naruto had kindly showed her a couple days ago.

* * *

Lee's special training area wasn't something all too special, but it contained everything that was needed. The training area was a small clearing in the middle of forest with a dirt ground as opposed to it being covered in grass. Thick trees encircled the small clearing which would be used in the training and two small, half-buried boulders were located in the center where breaks would be taken. Behind the boulders was a small first aid pouch full of things like rubbing alcohol and gauze to dress small wounds.

For the first hour, Gai sat down with Naruto to explain a few basic things to him that had to do with the training that Naruto had decided to join in. Naruto was informed of the fact that Gai and Lee were taijutsu specialists and used a taijutsu form dubbed as "Strong Fist". It was a taijutsu form that centered around using powerful blows to deal tremendous amounts of external damage.

Of course, in order to reap the benefits of this form, one must build a physique that was capable of delivering ridiculous amounts of force while also sustaining it for long periods of time. That was where the training that Gai had originally planned for Lee came in handy. Gai's specially customized physical training would allow them to build both muscular endurance and muscular power while also putting on some muscular mass and increasing the body's overall durability.

Although, that was only the first part of the days training while the later half would solely be focused on hand-to-hand combat. Both Naruto and Lee would learn the ways of the Strong Fist while also increasing their reaction speed and variety of fighting combinations. As the taijutsu training continued, Naruto and Lee would also be training their minds to recognize 'weak points' in an opponent's guard and anticipate an opponent's moves among other things.

Once Naruto and Lee's training got to a certain point, Gai would begin teaching them powerful taijutsu moves, special techniques to enhance their taijutsu while also putting them through special training to hone their 'mind's eye'. As one could see, Gai's training was packed tight and would no doubt bring out the potential in both his pupils.

Right before Gai began Naruto and Lee's training for the day, Gai gave Naruto the option of having his training placed at the beginner's level since Naruto may not be able to handle what Lee was currently doing. Naruto vehemently refused to take what he considered 'special treatment' causing Gai to nod his head in approval, praising Naruto's youth.

In real time, Gai and Lee both looked on with visible shock and awe on their faces, completely taken aback by what they had just seen. Naruto had done the impossible for a beginner and completed the first section of training which involved hitting a tree five thousand times with each fist, five thousand times with each foot, five thousand times with each elbow and five thousand times with each knee. Neither Gai nor Lee had expected Naruto to go to the end, but to actually see it happen left them in admiration of the amount of spirit Naruto had shown.

Naruto had long since removed his orange jacket and had rolled up his orange pants above his knees in preparation for the ancient training called 'Tree Hitting'. Upon completion, Naruto was bleeding profusely from his fists, feet, knees and elbows which ran down, forming lines of blood down his arms and legs. Having lost a lot of his strength, Naruto fell to his knees before falling forward causing his head to hit the tree.

The impact drew blood that fell from the small scratch on his forehead and down his face, but Naruto wasn't down yet as he sunk his nails into the tree bark to keep from going down any further. Naruto wasn't out of steam yet, but his body was aching.

"Let's take a small break, Naruto," Gai offered, inwardly praising the boy for his fierce determination, but he was also worried about the blond's well-being. No matter how you looked at it, overexertion was never a good thing.

Hearing Gai's words, Naruto gritted his teeth and slowly pushed himself to his feet, astonishing Gai. Lee went over and placed a hand on Naruto in order to assist him, but was waved off by Naruto, who spoke in a strained voice, "Not yet... I'm not done yet!"

Seeing Naruto's determination and resolve left Gai recalling a time in Lee's training when this exact same thing happened, albeit under less circumstances. Naruto and Lee were much the same and the latter had already realized this, gaining a deep respect for the blond boy causing him to refuse to hurt Naruto's pride by helping him any further as he stepped back away from him.

"I have somebody precious to me that I have to keep safe and something to prove to everyone in this village. Until I can do that, there are no time for breaks!" Naruto asserted with a calm, cool tone of voice, a serious expression on his face and resolution burning in his eyes as he ignored his bloodied body's pleads to rest.

Naruto had always been considered the most uncool student in the entire academy... if only they could see him now.

* * *

Yugito had exited the main office after learning her classroom number and was given a note to deliver to her teacher. Yugito was now in front of the door to her classroom feeling a little nervous about starting her day. Looking through the glass panel in the door, Yugito was able to see a number of kids sitting at their desk in threes while also being able to see her knew new instructor who was currently lecturing his students.

The teacher was a man of average height and build with black hair that he kept in a ponytail, dark eyes and a scar that ran across the bridge of his nose. He wore the standard Konoha shinobi outfit complete with forehead protector, sandals and flack jacket. His sleeves were rolled up about a quarter of the way and he looked like relatively good guy judging by the smile on his face as he instructed his students.

Yugito steeled herself before knocking at the door three times, seeing through the glass panel that she got the teacher's attention as he went to open the door. "Hello there. Are you a new student by any chance?" the brown-haired man asked upon opening the door with a smile. Yugito nodded her head as she delivered the message she had been given. The instructor scanned the paper, getting the basics before folding it and looking back at her.

"My name is Iruka Umino and I guess I'll be your teacher for the rest of the year. Please come in," the black-haired man introduced himself before ushering her into the classroom. As soon as she entered, Yugito instantaneously felt a sea of eyes fall on her while quiet murmurs swept over the class at the sight of the new girl.

Yugito was too nervous to try and figure out what everybody was whispering, but although she didn't know it, the remarks seemed to be in the positive direction. Among some of the males were comments of how 'hot' she looked while the girl's thought that she looked really pretty or beautiful.

"Alright, listen up everyone. It seems that you guys will be getting a new classmate, so treat her well," Iruka explained, signaling for Yugito to introduce herself to the entire class who were now silent after Iruka had spoken.

Yugito clasped her hands behind her and spoke with a cute smile, "My name is Yugito Nii. Please take care of me." Another positive response swept across the room giving Yugito a little more hope for the rest of the day. Looking back over to Iruka to find out where she would be seated, Iruka cupped his chin and looked the room over.

"Alright than Yugito. Please take the seat next to Sasuke Uchiha over there," Iruka told her, pointing to a boy that was sitting alone with two empty seats next to him. At the time, he wasn't paying much attention to the class and was looking out the window.

Sasuke was a fair-skinned ninja who had onyx eyes and black chin-length hair. His hair was spiky in the back with bangs that framed his head. His clothing consisted of the traditional Uchiha attire: a blue, short-sleeved shirt with a high collar and the Uchiha crest on the back along with white shorts and white arm warmers.

Yugito slowly walked up to her seat, passing the first one at the end which probably was Naruto's and sitting in the center. Yugito suddenly felt like cold daggers were stabbing into her from the gazes of almost every female in the room. Was this Sasuke Uchiha somebody that popular among the girls here?

Looking to her left at the raven-haired boy, Yugito felt a rather cold, indifferent and arrogant air around the Uchiha that felt like the complete opposite of what she got from Naruto. Yugito wondered if it might be better to ignore him, but she knew that it would be rude and leave a bad first impression.

"Hello," Yugito simply greeted her classmate who had his fingers intertwined and placed under his nose, covering his mouth from view. Sasuke heard her and slowly turned his head, acknowledging her presence, offering her a 'Hi' in response before looking forward once again. It had only been briefly but Yugito got the feeling that Sasuke saw her as below him. Yugito had not gotten the best first impression of Sasuke Uchiha, wondering if this guy was really that popular?

Iruka called all attention to return back to him allowing Yugito to be free of the piercing stares from the female of the classroom. Yugito gave one last look to the empty seat next to her, pondering where Naruto had gone for a moment before she brought her attention back to Iruka who went over the basic rules that all shinobi were expected to follow.

The lectures continued on and on, going through the basic necessities such as things like reading, mathematics, science, geography and basic shinobi knowledge. Even Yugito was beginning to find it tiring while a lot of the class was already zoning out or doing other things. The class wasn't learning anything relatively new, but were merely reviewing things that everybody knew as common everyday knowledge.

The only relief for the students came in the form of a bell ringing causing everybody to rise from their seats. Yugito mimicked the rest of her class, not really knowing much of what was going on as Iruka called everyone's attention in order to form two lines of boys and girls. The students obeyed the command as they were escorted out of the classroom, down the hallways and out the backdoor of the academy where there stood a miniature training ground to be used by the academy students.

"Alright class. It's the first day of the week so that means we will be reevaluating each of your skills. To begin, like we usually do, traditional shinobi sparring," Iruka informed his class, a clipboard in hand with the roster of the class. Scanning through the names a few times, Iruka formulated the multiple bouts that would be taking place.

Calling out the first two names of the first sparring match, the two academy students stepped forward, away from the rest of the class as they faced each other. The rest of the students took a few steps back to give the two combatants enough free space. Yugito had her eyes firmly planted on the match, wondering if she would see what academy level training was like in Konohagakure.

Back in Kumogakure, being the niece of the Raikage among _other_ things, Yugito was given training at a relatively young age. Yugito was trained in taijutsu, ninjutsu, shinobi tools and chakra control, but the months she had spent on the road had left her rusty. Those who didn't discipline themselves at a regular basis were bound to get worse and worse.

Since leaving Kumo, her taijutsu had become unfamiliar to her, her chakra control had slipped, her speed had dwindled and her accuracy with shinobi tools were probably a little off. Yugito wasn't completely sure, but if she had been at one hundred percent last night then maybe she and Naruto would have been able to safely get away, maybe even beat them.

From what she had seen, Naruto managed to get a couple good hits and if it had been one on one, he may have actually won. Three on two weren't very good odds, but the thought of might having been able to win was a pleasant one. Deciding to ignore it since it was all on the past, Yugito focused on the testing in front of her.

The two academy students put up the basic Seal of Confrontation as Iruka called, "Begin!" The two contestants went through a little squabble as they showcased their menial skills. Once a clean and decisive blow was landed, Iruka would call the end of the fight and the two combatants would form the Seal of Reconciliation.

The Seal of Confrontation was used to show the opponent in front of you that you acknowledged them and were going to challenge them while the Seal of Reconciliation represented that the two shinobi were still friends at the end of the match. It was an easy concept with a nice meaning behind it and even though it was used in the academy, every shinobi of any rank used this to hone their skills against shinobi of equal or high skill.

Yugito viewed another couple battles to feel slightly disappointed since what was being utilized was rather generic and didn't show any sign of form. The two fights she thought were any interesting were the two where no fighting actually happened. Two boys named Shikamaru Nara and Chōji Akimichi both had refused to fight their opponents which ended up making their opponents face each other.

Both of the students were given the same lecture by Iruka about how laziness would be the downfall of a shinobi before letting them off. By the look of defeat on the teacher, it was obvious that the two were repeat offenders and no matter what he said wouldn't change them.

Shikamaru Nara had fairly long jet black hair tied in a spiky ponytail, narrow brown eyes, and had both ears adorned by earrings. His attire was rather plain, consisting of a green lined mesh T-shirt under a short sleeved gray jacket with green edges, adorned on both the sleeves and the back with a circle with a line through it, brown pants, and blue sandals.

Chōji Akimichi had spiky, brown hair, swirl marks on his cheeks, and a much more robust physique than most other ninja. Chōji wore brown shorts, a long white scarf, a short-sleeved green jacket over a white shirt with his clan's kanji for "food" on it, small, hoop earrings, and his legs and forearms were wrapped in bandages.

Since the basic genin team was made up of two boys and one girl, it was obvious that the class would be male dominant, but Yugito felt a little dismayed at how poor almost every female seemed at taijutsu compared to some of the males. Ino Yamanaka was the best one Yugito had seen so far, but that really, _really_ wasn't saying much.

Ino Yamanaka was a fair-skinned girl of average height with green eyes and long, blonde hair, which was kept in a high-ponytail with bangs covering the right side of her face. Ino wore a pair of small silver hoop-earrings and a short purple vest like blouse with a raised collar, a skirt that was cut off on the sides and bandages on her stomach and legs. To complete her attire, Ino also wore purple and white elbow warmers with this.

"Did you see that, Sasuke-kun?" Ino asked loudly to her love interest, waving in large arcs so quickly that most the class expected her to take off. Sasuke had a comical sweatdrop on the back of his head as he did his best to ignore the leader of the 'Sasuke Uchiha Fan Club'. Yugito sweatdropped as well at the scene, actually feeling a little bad for the guy.

"Alright, that's enough," Iruka began, waving Ino off of the sparring field before he continued with the next match, "The next match will be between Sasuke Uchiha and Kiba Inuzuka." This got Sasuke's attention as he walked onto the sparring field followed by his opponent.

Kiba Inuzuka had messy brown hair, sharp black eyes with vertical slit-like pupils, pronounced canine teeth, and nails that he can change into claws. He also has the distinct red fang markings of the Inuzuka clan on his cheeks. Kiba's attire consisted of dark greyish pants reaching to his calves and a gray, hooded fur-lined coat, with the hood usually placed on his head, over an apparent plate of armor and a fishnet undershirt. To complete his wild features, Kiba even had a little white dog on the top of his head.

"Since your at the top of the class, when I beat you. Would that make me the best?" Kiba remarked with a dog-like smile as he made the Seal of Confrontation. Hearing Kiba saying 'when' instead of 'if', Sasuke replied with a short 'bah' before forming the Seal of Confrontation as well.

The fight was over almost instantaneously as Yugito got a clear idea of why Sasuke was at the top of the class. Kiba had charged Sasuke aggressively right off the bat which left him taking a kick to the chest, knocking him back. Kiba ignored the kick completely, having not even fallen to the ground, but it was already over by Iruka's call.

"Don't think this means anything, Uchiha," Kiba spoke bitterly as he grudgingly made the Seal of Reconciliation with Sasuke who didn't look too happy with it either. Once again, Ino began cheering her congratulations for Sasuke's win, but the Uchiha once again did his best to ignore her.

"Alright then. To end today, let's have Yugito Nii go up against Hinata Hyūga," Iruka decided, Yugito nodding her head as she smiled thinking that it was finally her turn. Turning to face her opponent, Yugito saw a girl that looked rather shy and pacifistic. Was this girl really going to fight her?

Hinata Hyūga had fair skin, white eyes and dark blue hair that she kept in a short, leveled hime-cut style just above her forehead, with chin-length strands framing her face. She wore a cream-colored hooded-jacket with a fire symbol on the upper right and left sleeves and fur around the cuffs and hem, with navy blue pants.

"Due to Hinata's fighting style, a palm strike to the chest will be considered a clean hit," Iruka informed Yugito who nodded in understanding, seeing Hinata timidly adopt a pose that would make the most of a palm strike. Yugito still wasn't sure if such a shy girl would actually end up fighting, but made the Seal of Confrontation anyways, having it mirrored by Hinata.

"Begin!" Iruka called the beginning of the last match as Hinata went, going for Yugito's torso as Yugito brushed them away. Yugito could see that Hinata had great skill and hidden potential in her fighting style, but it seemed that her shy nature was keeping her from flourishing.

Having been distracted in her thoughts, Yugito pushed Hinata's left palm strike up by the forearm, letting a glancing blow pass of her shoulder. Moving her body right, using the momentum of her earlier deflection, Yugito spun her body, going for a kick to Hinata's head. Hinata fearfully closed her eyes as she awaited impact.

"Winner! Yugito Nii!" Iruka called as Hinata opened her eyes to see Yugito's heel stopped just an inch away from hitting her in jaw. Lowering her foot, Yugito walked up to Hinata and with a friendly smile made the Seal of Reconciliation with the Hyūga girl. Hinata found Yugito's warmness familiar to somebody else she knew and gave her a pleasant smile back.

"Alright class. Let's move onto the target practice," Iruka ordered his students as he looked back down at his clipboard with pen in hand as the students all moved on to the next area. Iruka was pleasantly surprised by Yugito's taijutsu prowess and agility while admiring her sportsmanship, taking a note of that on the class roster.

Moving onto the throwing range, Iruka lined up his class in order by last name as they each took turns in throwing a set of kunai and shuriken at a target placed a considerable distance away. One after one, the students through their assortment of shinobi tools before moving away for the next person to get a chance. Iruka took the liberty of removing the kunai and shuriken from the target after each student.

Once again, Shikamaru and Chōji decided to sit out the target practice which Yugito found rather interesting. Was it that they were just too lazy to put in the effort, or were they too bored by the exercise to even bother doing it? Probably a combination of the two, but Yugito didn't really think any less of them because of it. They were the type of person to come through where it counted; They were much like Naruto in that respect.

When it was Yugito's turn, she picked up the set of shinobi tools and looked at the target in the distance. Taking a deep, steadying breath, Yugito took a firm grip before throwing them at the target. Most of them hit the dead center while a few stray ones hit a little bit off. Yugito looked at the kunai and shuriken that were off, seeing that her aim had indeed slipped a bit. However, Yugito's abilities was still at the top of girl's in the class and among the top in the males.

After a few more students got their chance, it was finally Sasuke's turn. The Uchiha took a rather wide footed stance before launching the kunai and shuriken at the target, having every single one of them hit dead center. Yugito looked on slightly impressed, seeing Sasuke to be the most adept of all the academy students and probably stronger than her at the moment.

Much to Yugito's amusement, and Sasuke's chagrin, all of the Uchiha fan girls let a dreamy 'Sasuke' escape them. Sasuke was followed by a few more academy students who got their chance to have their skills evaluated before Iruka called attention.

"Okay, class. Move on to the recess area and rest before I come retrieve you later," Iruka issued his order to his students who nodded their heads before setting off to their destination. Yugito wasn't sure where this place was exactly so she followed the rest of her classmates. Hopefully Naruto would manage to get there during the last half of school.

* * *

Night had long fallen as Naruto painfully heaved his foot step after step up the stairs to his apartment door. He had just barely managed to get through training with Gai and Lee and it took all the willpower he had not to pass out at the training ground. They had closed off the day with some sparring between Naruto and Lee where the blond got a brutal taste of what a taijutsu specialist was capable of, even if he was a beginner. This made Naruto wonder what Gai as a taijutsu master was capable of.

Naruto's mind had been focused on training for the entire day, and now that it was over, the only thought in his head was to get home and get some rest. Naruto had already decided that he would repeat what he did today tomorrow as well. Lee and Gai apparently got extremely early starts to their day, every single day. It pained Naruto to hear that, but it was a sacrifice he was willing to make.

Naruto fell forward as he reached the top of the steps, crawling the rest of the way to his door. A feeling of accomplishment came over him as he passed the seemingly impossible climb. Once he reached the door, Naruto sorely went into his pocket, retrieved his keys and unlocked his door, slipping inside.

The room was pitch black as he stumbled to his futon in the dark. Just as he was about to lie down with the only thought in his head being blissful sleep, the lights flew on. Although Naruto didn't know why exactly, the word 'busted' appeared in his mind. Squinting under the bright light, Naruto looked to the side to see Yugito with an indeterminable expression on her face.

"What's up?" Naruto groaned out as he plummeted to his futon, burying his face into his pillow. Yugito's expression remained impassive as she watched Naruto who slowly looked up when all he heard as a response was silence.

"'What's up?' Nothing really. I just got through my first day of the academy," Yugito answered in a monotone voice as Naruto's mood instantly dropped even more than it already had. It had only taken him a moment to process what she meant and the fact that Yugito refused to show any emotion on the topic made this so much worse. For once, Naruto wanted to hear anger, not this deadly calmness.

'Shit!' Naruto shouted repeatedly to himself upon realizing that he had royally screwed up. Yugito and even Naruto, had been so excited to spend Yugito's first day at the academy together and try to get her settled in, but he had forgotten. Although Naruto had done what he did for Yugito's sake as well, Naruto still felt horrible about leaving her.

"I'm sorry, Yugito! I really am! I can't believe I forgot!" Naruto tried to apologize quickly, but his voice only came out a few levels higher than a whisper since he was completely exhausted.

"It's no big deal. It's not like you promised you'd be there. I was just wondering where you've been all this time? You look completely wiped out!" Yugito commented with an interested expression without a hint of a worrying tone since she was still a little mad at Naruto. But it was true, Naruto had never made a promise that he would be there. His promise was for something a little different.

Meanwhile, Naruto was glad that his orange jacket and pants covered all the wounds on his arms and legs and the bandages that could be seen were easily passed off as basic shinobi wear. It was also fortunate for Naruto that he wasn't one to bruise easily from the hits he had taken to the head and face in his spar with Lee. Naruto didn't want to tell Yugito about his new training regime yet as it would cause some unsatisfactory issues.

"Jii-chan had me run some errands for him. Said something about saving the older shinobi for more important matters," Naruto lied smoothly, Yugito finding Naruto's excuse believable considering that Naruto was close with the Hokage and that situation was completely in the realm of the possible.

"Must of been a little more than just 'some'," Yugito commented as Naruto scratched the back of his head, letting off a tired chuckle as he felt his exhaustion grow with every second he spent on his futon without sleep. Looking back down at his bed in the new light, Naruto noticed that it was clean of any blood stains, something he found surprising, but realized Yugito must of done it with all the free time she had.

"Enough about me. How was your first day? Any troubles?" Naruto asked her, removing the attention away from what he had been doing that day to what she had been doing the entire day. Yugito seemed to perk up a little after hearing that as she pulled up a chair and sat down. Naruto realized instantaneously that this was going to be a long story and kind of regretted it, but the least he could do was listen after blowing her off.

"The really interesting part was during lunch..."

* * *

The recess area was a small circular enclosed space with a series of trees dotting the landscape where the academy students sat down to eat their lunches and mingle till they were called back by their teacher. Yugito was sitting under a tree with her knees up against her chest. It wasn't that she was shy, scared or sad; she was just really, really hungry!

'Never will I ever leave without eating breakfast again,' Yugito thought to herself, blushing as a growl emanated from her stomach. A growling stomach was not becoming of a lady, but Yugito could hardly care less about what people thought of her.

"Mind some company," a male voice sounded from in front of her as she looked up to see the lazed expression of Shikamaru and Choji eating a bag of potato chips with a happy smile on his face.

"Uh, sure. Not at all," Yugito responded, not really understanding why they would approach her since they had never spoken a single word to each other until just now.

"Since you're the new girl, Choji and I thought that you might want somebody to talk to," Shikamaru informed the blond girl as he laid down on a patch of grass next to her, looking up at the clouds. Choji too a seat against the same tree as Yugito, continuing to eat away at the extra large bag, nodding in agreement.

In all honesty, Shikamaru had been mulling the idea of even greeting her for a while since it seemed like a lot of needless work. In the end, he had ultimately decided to do it since he would still be able to watch the clouds anyways. Choji had also encouraged him to meet her, so that helped him along as well.

"That's really nice of you. I was actually planning to have somebody keep me company today, but he hasn't arrived yet," Yugito remarked with a small frown on her face as she had already made peace with the idea that he wouldn't be coming at all.

"Does he go to the academy?" Choji inquired as he continued munching his favorite brand of barbeque potato chips, Shikamaru absently listening as his mind was still focusing up at the fluffy white clouds in the blue sky.

"Yeah, he's actually in this class," Yugito said in response to Chōji's question, his eyes widening slightly while Shikamaru sat up abruptly with an expression of interest and surprise.

"But the only person not here today... You don't mean a guy named Naruto, right?" Shikamaru wondered, not believing that Naruto had met a girl that didn't hate him yet. Naruto had made Sasuke his rival, and in turn, made almost every girl into his enemy.

"That's exactly his name. You know him?" Yugito asked with a voice of curiosity, having gotten the idea that Naruto was rather lonely and didn't have many friends, if any at all his own age.

"Do I know him? He, Choji, Kiba and I have been friends since day one!" Shikamaru explained with rare enthusiasm at the topic of their group, sadly named 'Dead Lasts'. Of course, by 'day one', Shikamaru meant of this year of the academy. It had only taken a few words exchanged at the beginning of the year for the four to find common ground, one of which was causing trouble for Iruka.

Having found something interesting to talk about, Shikamaru and Choji began telling Yugito stories about their infamy in the academy. Telling her of all the crazy pranks that they pulled, most of which were Naruto's ideas and how they usually got the same lecture from Iruka at the end of the day.

Yugito found the conversation informative as well as entertaining as the only time she had ever heard of Naruto pulling pranks was from Inoichi when they had first met. Hearing some of the things made her laugh as she realized that pulling pranks actually suited Naruto's childlike, energetic personality.

The conversation between the three was going extremely well and Yugito was able to see quickly why Naruto would befriend these two. However, the friendly atmosphere was interrupted by a loud, angry female voice, "Hey, Nii!"

Yugito looked up to see that the accusing tone was coming from none other than Ino Yamanaka who was looking down at her from her standing position. Yugito only remained silent, wondering what had gotten Ino's panties in a bunch. "I don't care if you're the new girl! You better stay away from _my_ Sasuke! Just because you're sitting next to him doesn't mean that you have a chance, so you better step off!"

Yugito's immediate reaction was to face palm at what she was hearing before the face palm went into Yugito rubbing her temples. Ino's idolization of Sasuke was really annoying and Yugito was actually having a little trouble staying calm.

Yugito took Ino's momentary pause to stop the Yamanaka woman from talking anymore, "I honestly have no idea what the hell you're talking about. I don't like him at all. I was put next to him by Iruka-sensei; It's not like I chose it. For what little it matters to me, I hope you win him over."

Ino-Shika-Chō had a face of comical shock with their eyes becoming nothing more than white circles. Chōji momentarily began choking on his chips and Shikamaru had to save him while Ino nearly lost her balance.

"Wait a minute. You don't like Sasuke?" Shikamaru inquired with a voice that sounded like he was winded, looking at Yugito as if she was an extraterrestrial than a human girl.

"Is it really that surprising?" Yugito asked in response, not really understanding why there was so many girls fawning over the Uchiha in the first place. Although she didn't say it aloud, but from what little she got to know of Sasuke, she could honestly say she wouldn't like him very much.

"Actually, yes! Other than Hinata, I don't think I've met another girl that didn't like him. Until now that is," Shikamaru answered in a tone of awe, which was saying a lot since Shikamaru was the type to remain aloof.

"Well that's good then. So just stay out of my way or else!" Ino finally came out of her dazed state of mind, stomping away after delivering her threat. Yugito had half a mind to see what this 'or else' was, since Yugito knew that she could probably drop Ino with a finger.

Looking around the small recess area, Yugito could see almost her entire class either eating their lunch or mingling with the others. The only two people Yugito could see that were remaining alone were Sasuke, who was sitting on a fallen tree log in the usual brooding pose and Hinata who was eating her lunch alone.

'Shikamaru and Choji were nice enough to keep me company. So I guess I should do the same for her,' Yugito decided, not understanding why a sweet girl like Hinata didn't have any friends. That was going to change from this day forth and Yugito would make sure of it.

"Thanks for everything guys, but I think I'll go talk to Hinata for a little," Yugito told Shikamaru and Chōji as she dusted her shinobi pants. Chōji gave her an understanding look and a wave while Shikamaru muttered his good-byes before reverting his attention back on the clouds.

Yugito slowly approached Hinata from behind, bending over her right shoulder as the blond greeted the blue-haired girl, "Hi, Hinata!"

The sudden voice startled Hinata, causing her to jump a little bit before turning around to see Yugito's smiling face. "Oh, hello Yugito-san. You startled me," Hinata returned the greeting with a small, shy smile.

"Just call me, Yugito. Is it okay if I just call you Hinata?" Yugito inquired with an almost Naruto-like smile, asking if it was okay that they didn't use honorifics when referring to each other.

"Of course," Hinata responded politely with that same shy smile, although it was obvious that she was wondering why Yugito was even speaking to her. The only time they had said anything to each other was after they had finished fighting.

"You seemed kinda lonely sitting here eating by yourself, so I was wondering if I could keep you company?" Yugito explained, having understood the unsaid question, Hinata's smile growing increasingly large after realizing at how kind and caring Yugito really was.

"I'd like that very much," Hinata replied sweetly, Yugito taking a seat next to her as they followed to talk about a series of random topics, getting to know a little bit about each other.

In the midst of there conversation, Yugito's stomach ended up growling again, leaving her embarrassed. Yugito was then pleasantly surprised to see Hinata offer her some of her bento. Yugito was at first hesitant to accept the offer, but after being reassured by the blue haired woman, Yugito helped herself.

* * *

"Looks like you've met almost all the important people that I know. Sounds like you've had one hell of a day!" Naruto exclaimed with his signature close eyed grin, having not expected Yugito to make so much progress on her own. Who would have thought that Yugito and Hinata would end up getting close?

Yugito nodded her response with a smile of her own before watching Naruto snuggle into his pillow. This action made it obvious to Yugito that Naruto really wanted to go to sleep. "Thanks for hearing me out. Sweet dreams, Naruto," Yugito thanked the blond, seeing that Naruto was still indeed the caring person she knew him as.

Naruto's 'good night' came in the form of some loud snoring, receiving a light giggle from Yugito as she stood up, placed the chair back near the table before closing the lights and moving on to the bed.

Slowly opening one eye, it was revealed that Naruto had been fake sleeping that entire time so that Yugito would give him some time alone to think. 'Yugito wants me at the academy, but I need to train with Gai and Lee,' Naruto mused, weighing the two options, having to make this difficult decision quickly as he'd end up falling asleep.

Naruto contemplated the pros and cons of each action before finally coming to a decisive decision, 'Looks like I'll be doing 'errands' tomorrow again.' The entire internal conflict he had gone through had shriveled down to one basic thing: His nindō.

Naruto would never break his promises and in order to fulfill the one he had made to Yugito, Naruto would need the strength that he would acquire from Gai's training. The thought of just telling Yugito he was training had crossed the blond's mind, but in the end, he had decided against it.

Yugito, obviously, knew of the promise Naruto had made to her. So, if Yugito knew that Naruto was training himself to exhaustion, it would cause unneeded complications. Yugito would most likely blame herself and try to make him stop. This was something Naruto refused to let happen, so for the time being, he would keep it as his own personal secret.

'Just you wait, Yugito. I'll become stronger and then I'll be back in the academy in no time.'

* * *

**As I'm posting this chapter I'm a little busy for a long author note and I don't want to postpone this chapter anymore than I already have, so I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I'll see ya guys tomorrow.**

**-Reprise**


	6. Naruto's Caprice

**Author's Note: Well, I'm back today as promised and here is the last chapter from the old author of Worth Protecting. I'll just respond to some reviews and tell you the planned release date for the next chapter.**

**Elder Siblings: **You are trying to tell me, that Naruto has instantly matured without getting slapped in the face by reality. Now, I would advise you to reread the whole fanfiction and rethink that statement. Naruto hasn't really matured much from how he is in the manga. Just because Naruto has his moments of "I'm not going to be retardedly hyper," doesn't mean that he's matured. And the only time he started maturing a considerable amount was after his first real friend was nearly raped right in front of his eyes and he killed three people. What more of a slap of reality do you want.

And another thing, how can you automatically assume this will be a whole fanfiction about Yugito being a damsel in distress after the first 5 chapters. For all you know, I could decide to make Yugito the main antagonist.

I'm not trying to come off like a douche in any way, but these first chapters is something a close friend of mine wrote and I believe he did it pretty well and well within belief. If you are really gong to accuse the fanfiction of things that aren't true, you should first have some evidence to back it up. Thank you.

**plums: **If you mean you've seen a different author post it then yeah, you probably have seen it since I've adopted Worth Protecting. If you mean that I posted this chapter, you are mistaken. Thanks for reading and enjoy the future chapters.

**BanefulWarrior: **I completely agree with you, it's great for giving Naruto an early power up so that he's not overly weak and reliant on his clones. The only problem with it, is that you have to balance Naruto so that he isn't completely overpowering anyone earlier on like pre-sharingan Sasuke. You can make Naruto simply overpower them, but I personally don't like reading/writing OP Naruto who doesn't lose or struggle to the end. Thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy the most recent chapter.

**potterfanforever:** Remember that Naruto has repeated the academy a total of three times and most of the time he's pulling pranks or not paying attention anyways. And the only thing that kept Naruto from passing was the Bunshin No Jutsu. If anything, Naruto's time is better spent under the tutelage of Gai rather than in school. Hope I cleared something up and I hope to hear from you again.

**Quick-n-Popular:** This chapter completely addresses your review so I hope you enjoy and thanks for constantly reviewing. Hope to hear from you again.

**MAnku: **You're welcome :D.

**Friaku: **This chapter also completely addresses your review so I hope you like the chapter and the ones to come.

**As the story becomes inevitably more and more popular, I will probably begin to only respond to questions and long analytic reviews and give everybody else a huge THANK YOU! I'm sorry, but I'm not trying to have a really long author's note with 20+ responses and I feel as if some of you guys would prefer it if it wasn't.**

**Anyways, here is chapter 6, probably the most controversial of the previous author's chapters. Hope you enjoy it and I'll be taking over from chapter 7 onward.**

**Enjoy:D**

* * *

**Worth Protecting**

**Chapter 6: Naruto's Caprice**

(Time Skip – Half Year Time Skip)

Naruto was strolling through the deserted streets of Konohagakure, making steady progress towards his and Lee's training ground to begin their day of practice. It was as early as ever, but Naruto's body had adapted to it in a minimal amount of time.

Naruto's body may have been allowed to adapt to the early starts, but it never managed to adapt to Gai's training. If Naruto gave Gai even a miniscule reason to believe that the blond's training had become easier to him, the Green Beast of Konoha would take it up a notch.

Gai's training plan to sculpt Naruto's and Lee's bodies into lethal machines was well on course. Naruto had only just realized his increased muscular mass a month ago when he tore the orange jumpsuit that used to fit him. That was not to say that Naruto and Lee were grotesquely built. In fact, most of the muscle Lee and Naruto had put on was lean and powerful.

The taijutsu users had gotten incredibly chiseled since the beginning of their training and very few others their age or older had a body like theirs. After all, having a very cut and powerful lean muscular build had a few other benefits that didn't necessarily involve physical activity. Although, this had never passed through either of the student's minds as they were focused on their own goals.

Due to Naruto's old orange jumpsuit no longer being suitable, Naruto decided to take Yugito's advice from long ago in getting a change of wardrobe. Naruto now wore a pair of black shinobi trousers with two orange stripes going down the outer sides, a black tracksuit with two orange stripes going down both his sleeves and two going across the top of his chest that also sported the Uzumaki Clan swirl on the back. Underneath the tracksuit he wore a plain orange short sleeved shirt. Naruto completed his new attire with a pair of black shinobi sandals.

Naruto had forsaken the goggles that he had promised never to remove until he got his Konohagakure forehead protector, no longer seeing them necessary as they'd get broken if he trained with them. Taking them off was an option, but Naruto didn't have the desire to remove and replace the goggles throughout the day repetitively.

Naruto's attire was now mostly black rather than orange like before, but he didn't completely disregard his favorite color. Naruto kept the tracksuit slightly unzipped at the top to show off a good amount of the bright orange underneath.

Naruto seemed to be too preoccupied with his destination in mind to notice that somebody had been shadowing him since he had left his apartment. Naruto began whistling a slow tune to himself as he placed his hands on the back of his head, looking up at the sky.

The silent follower watched as Naruto turned to the right at the next four way intersection. Speeding up, the individual stuck their head out the way Naruto had gone to see an empty street. Jumping into the light, it was revealed the person that had been stalking Naruto was none other than Yugito.

"Where did he go? He was just here!" Yugito shouted to herself looking around to find some trace of her blond-haired roommate only to find nothing.

"Crap! Not again," Yugito cursed as she slouched forward defeated before slowly beginning her trip back to Naruto's apartment. Although it couldn't be seen, the expression on Yugito's face was a whirlpool of emotion: Anger, sadness, annoyance and even some worry.

Once Yugito had completely disappeared from view, Naruto slowly came out of his hiding place with a soft smile on his face. "I'm sorry, Yugito. But it's not time to tell you yet," Naruto explained in a caring tone of voice (as if she could hear him) before the blond male picked up his pace to arrive at his intended location.

* * *

Yugito entered into the small apartment, being greeted by the same silence. Looking at Naruto's futon, Yugito noticed that Naruto had already fixed it before he had left. Moving towards it, Yugito collapsed on top of the soft material.

'It's been weeks since I've seen you, Naruto. Why are you being so distant to me?' Yugito thought to herself, closing her eyes as she buried her head into the pillow Naruto had been sleeping on.

This was the warmth that Yugito recalled receiving from Naruto when she had first met him. Since the day she had entered the academy, Naruto had begun disappearing for long periods of time. Whenever Yugito did get a glimpse of Naruto, he would just end up vanishing after just a second.

Naruto was out of the apartment before she was awake and he arrived back, if he came back at all, after she had already fallen asleep. Naruto had seemed to drop the academy completely even though Yugito was positive that he should still be an academy student.

Yugito had discovered a couple months ago that Naruto had failed the graduation exams a total of three times and that this was his fourth year. Yugito had been completely shocked at hearing that and about how lowly Naruto's abilities were thought of. No way Naruto could be a weakling yet still be able to defeat three ranked shinobi when he had saved her. Yugito kept her thoughts about Naruto to herself, but she had faith that he was hiding his true potential.

'Hiding'. That dirty six letter word had been haunting Yugito for months after Naruto's disappearance had begun. 'What is Naruto hiding from me?' and 'Why is Naruto hiding something from me?' were two of the questions that continuously sprouted themselves in her mind.

Yugito sighed as she stood up from the futon, shaking her head as she realized how negative her mood had been getting. Pushing those thoughts to the back of her mind, Yugito decided that she should just focus on having a great time at the academy.

* * *

"One hundred fifty-one! One hundred fifty-two! One hundred fifty-three!" Gai counted off in his energetic booming voice, sitting on top of a boulder many times his own size. That boulder was being supported on Lee's back who was in a single-handed push up position. To complete the stack, Lee was in his exercise from on top of an equally large boulder that was being supported on Naruto's back who was in the identical one-handed push up position.

The students went down and up in unison at their teacher's count in this set of three hundred. It was obvious that Naruto was pushing up a considerable amount of weight more than Lee, but that wasn't the case. Once the strenuous set of three hundred was finished, Naruto and Lee would switch. The taijutsu users would do another three hundred in their different positions before once again switching.

The one on the bottom was being trained for muscular power using heavier weights while the person on top was doing training for muscular endurance. The set of three hundred was just for the person on the bottom while the person on top would follow to do an extra hundred or two hundred depending on Gai's mood that day.

During Naruto's and Lee's sparring matches, Gai became aware that Naruto's already ridiculous strength was further augmented whenever he was put in a combat situation. Naruto had vast reserves of chakra without even considering the entity within him and that amplified his physical strength whenever he was put in 'fight or flight'.

However, Naruto and Lee both had the same base strength level and even if Naruto had the passive ability to magnify his strength, Lee had his own ways with keeping up with his rival. Naruto was well aware of this strange ability of his after Gai had informed him of it, but it didn't matter to the blond as he and Lee were always on par anyways.

Naruto watched as yet another droplet of sweat went down his face to the tip of his nose before dripping to the ground beneath him. With every repetition, the ground beneath Naruto became more and more soaked in his perspiration.

Prominent veins could be seen snaking up Naruto's engaged arm, centering around his forearm and his bicep. His body was pumping oxygenated blood at a faster pace as Naruto began to tire out more and more, but he forced himself on. Besides, if Naruto collapsed, he'd be crushed by the weight above him. Gai was a very effective and kind teacher, but his methods could be considered cruel some of the time.

Naruto had been taught that in order to achieve anything in life, one must have a strong desire that can overcome anything. Only when your drive was at its strongest could one surpass their bodily limits and improve far beyond their current state.

The image of Yugito unconscious with her clothes in tatters and in danger flashed before Naruto's eyes which followed to narrow as he felt a large burst of energy flow into his system.

"One hundred fifty-four! One hundred fifty-five!" Naruto began to call out in unison, his strong spirit flowing through his voice. This caused Lee to engage in the count as well as the three taijutsu users began numbering in unison with more energy than they had first started with.

* * *

Hiruzen Sarutobi held his hands in front of his crystal ball as the projection of Naruto and Lee training flipped into existence within. A warm smile was etched in the Sandaime Hokage's face as he watched Naruto firmly focused in his training, surpassing all expectations that had been placed on him by others.

The elderly man had made it a point to tune into Naruto's training from time to time to oversee how the blond was progressing while mentally questioning the late Yondaime Hokage if he was proud. It sure made Hiruzen proud to see Naruto growing up so much, both physically and mentally in such a short amount of time.

'It all started after he met Yugito,' Hiruzen remarked, seeing Yugito as the pivotal person who had jump started Naruto's desire to become stronger which lead into his fast progress since six months ago. Then again, it wasn't just Yugito, but what had nearly happened to her that night half a year ago.

Returning his attention back on the training, Hiruzen remembered when he saw Naruto struggle with just finishing a set of three-hundred regular push-ups without any weights. The Sarutobi clansman's thoughts went from Naruto's obvious physical growth to his mental and emotional growth as well.

The grandfatherly smile on Hiruzen's face seemed to become that much warmer as he thought about the time a couple months ago when Naruto had come to him seeking a way to get more money in order to support Yugito and himself better.

* * *

_Naruto walked into the Hokage's room with a small smile on his face after being given permission to enter. Hiruzen had not met with Naruto in a while, so this was a pleasant surprise. _

"_Hey, Jii-chan. I know you're giving me an allowance and all, but is there any way I can make some extra cash?" Naruto inquired of the elderly man who looked at Naruto with interest._

"_What for? Is the amount of money you and Yugito get not enough to survive?" Hiruzen asked of the blond-haired boy, wondering why Naruto would be waiting until today to say something._

_Naruto shook his head vigorously from side to side before elaborating on his reasoning, "Well. It's just that we only get enough money just to be able to have three meals a day, but I just wanted to get a little more. Yugito isn't asking for anything more, but I want to surprise her with a little something extra for fun things instead of just food and water."_

_Hiruzen could have sworn that he felt like he was talking to a grown-up man in a relationship instead of a single little boy like Naruto. Despite his disbelief, Hiruzen could understand where Naruto was coming from. Wanting to make his friend's life a little easier and happier with the ability to pay for some of the more pleasurable things in life._

"_You haven't asked any of the shopkeepers around Konoha," Hiruzen questioned._

"_I did for the past two days! They either didn't even bother respond to me or they just flat out refused me without asking about what I'm good at! Ichiraku Ramen doesn't need anymore people and I don't want to take money from Jii-san. You're the last person I can turn to Jii-chan," Naruto explained with an exasperated expression, not liking the fact that he had wasted two days without receiving any results._

_The Sandaime Hokage let out a heavy sigh, seeing that very few villagers were giving Naruto a break, even after all this time. _

_Giving Naruto's pleading a little more thought, the Hokage finally came to a decision. "As a shinobi, you don't begin to make money until you have graduated from the academy, Naruto-kun. Once you receive your headband and attain the rank of genin, you will be able to take D-rank missions for some spare money."_

_Naruto's mood dropped considerably as he heard Hiruzen explain the process that was required before he could begin making any sort of money. Naruto was about to thank the old man for troubling himself before leaving when a single word stopped him in his tracks. "But... since a D-rank mission can even be done by a simple villager, I assume that I can offer you some of them. There are never a shortage of these chore- erhm, D-rank missions, so it shouldn't be a problem," Hiruzen finished, watching as Naruto began shaking with excitement._

"_I knew it! I knew it! I knew it! I knew I could count on you, Jii-chan! You have the answers to everything, don't you!" Naruto shouted, reverting back to the childish blond that the old man knew. Hiruzen slowly reached to the filing cabinet to the side, opening it before searching through the many files._

_Naruto only became more and more excited as he watched the elderly Hokage pull out a simple sheet of paper out of one of the files before turning to Naruto. _

"_Let's calm down now," Hiruzen began with a raised hand, Naruto obeying as he took a deep breath before the Sandaime Hokage continued, "I will give you the job description here. Should you ever want another one, feel free to come ask me and I'll hand you a new one. Understood?"_

_Naruto nodded quickly, practically tearing the paper out of Hiruzen's hands as he charged out of the room yelling out his 'good-bye' and 'thank you'. The elderly Hokage shook his head at Naruto's childish ways before returning his attention back to the paperwork on his desk. _

* * *

Hiruzen's chain of smiles was broken by a frown that crept on his expression. Even though so many positive things had come of Naruto wanting to take more responsibility and train with Gai and Lee, the Sandaime Hokage was well aware of the consequences.

Naruto was still a young boy at the age of twelve going on thirteen, yet he acted like an adult in some regards. Even though they weren't particularly missed by anybody, Hiruzen had never heard Naruto pull a prank since half a year ago.

To top that, the Hokage was well aware of Naruto not attending the academy and actually condoned the blond's decision. It wasn't like going to the Academy was mandatory for everybody since most of the villagers didn't, but it was necessary if Naruto actually wanted to pass and begin his career as a shinobi.

The Hokage had written the Shinobi Academy and had a private talk with Iruka about Naruto being excused from classes with the bonus that he would still be allowed to take the Graduation Exam when the time came. Technically, at this point in time, Naruto could pass just due to his overwhelming taijutsu just like Lee had.

The elderly man was well aware that Naruto was more of a ninjutsu based shinobi like many others, but should Naruto need any assistance with chakra control or the academy student techniques, he could always ask Gai. Although Gai was a taijutsu master, Gai still had the ability to use chakra, but simply refused to use it, preferring to stick completely with taijutsu.

A basic day in the new lifestyle of Naruto Uzumaki involved getting a ridiculously early start to the day before training well into the afternoon. Soon after that, Naruto would take up a D-rank mission and depending if he had free time, he would return back to his training. Once it became late in the evening, Naruto would either go home to fall asleep or simply pass out wherever he had fallen while training only to do the same thing the next day.

Occasionally, Naruto did take a few breaks from training to accomplish some tasks required in his daily life. There were times when Naruto would take these few breaks as a day to go to the academy. Although, those days were become lesser and far between as Gai began teaching them taijutsu forms and techniques.

Naruto was reaping the benefits by being under Gai's tutelage, but was also harming himself by skipping out on necessary human interaction. Hiruzen was well aware that Naruto was ignoring and unconsciously pushing Yugito away, but it wasn't his place to tell Naruto. In life, all decisions came with their own consequences and this was something Naruto would have to learn for himself.

* * *

Iruka was standing on top of the roof of the Shinobi Academy, overlooking the recess area where his class was currently enjoying their lunches or just relaxing. Today would be early dismissal, so they could technically leave this area and go home whenever they decided to. Iruka's eyes fell onto the newest arrival to his class; Yugito.

In the six months Yugito had been at the academy, she had hit it off with a number of students. The blond female was currently sitting with her back against a tree with her four other lunch mates. Hinata was sitting across from Yugito with the usual bento that her mother had made for her. Kiba was laying on a branch with one leg and arm dangling off. Chōji was eating a bag of potato chips as usual against the same tree as Yugito and right under Kiba. Shikamaru was laying down in the grass nearby looking up at the clouds.

'If Naruto were here, he'd probably be devising a prank for me with the other three,' Iruka thought with a sense of nostalgia as his thoughts refocused themselves on Naruto who he had not seen in a great deal of time since after his meeting with the Hokage.

After having had a meeting with the Hokage to discuss Naruto's excuse, Iruka felt that he should go speak with Naruto about the situation at hand as well. Naruto had been eating at Ichiraku Ramen at the time, so Iruka hadn't needed to put too much effort into searching for him.

* * *

"_So here you are, Naruto!" Iruka exclaimed as he pushed up the blinds of the small ramen shop, seeing his old student engorging himself with a stack of bowls already as tall as he was. Naruto stopped as he slurped up his noodles before placing the bowl back on the table._

"_Hi, Iruka-sensei! Fancy meeting you here!" Naruto greeted with that same spirit that Iruka would never forget of the blond. Iruka took the seat next to Naruto's as he gave Naruto that signature casual smile._

"_I hadn't seen you in a while, so I thought I'd see how you're doing," Iruka explained, Naruto looking a little confused as he slurped down the rest of his final bowl before returning his attention to Iruka._

"_You didn't get the message from Jii-chan?" Naruto inquired, Iruka shaking his head as that was not what he had meant._

"_I got the message from Hokage-sama about you being excused from the academy. It's just been such a long time since we've last talked. Care to take a walk with me," Iruka offered._

_Naruto vigorously nodded his head in agreement as he too had missed the talks he used to have with Iruka and some of the advice his teacher used to give him in his time of need. Giving Teuchi a big thank you for the meal, Naruto pulled out his frog shaped wallet that looked to be full to bursting. Opening it up, he paid the old man for the food and left a generous tip, leaving before Teuchi attempted to return the extra._

_Iruka noticed what Naruto was doing, but was a little more focused on how Naruto had fallen into so much money. Putting that to the back of his head, the teacher and student speed-walked away from Ichiraku Ramen before decreasing their pace as the shop became a dot in the distance._

_Night had fallen and the street lights were on as he and Naruto took a seat on a nearby bench. The two remained silent before Iruka began, "A lot has changed about you Naruto. I just wanted to make sure you were okay and that you were sure about not coming to the academy."_

"_I'm completely fine, Iruka-sensei. I haven't been coming to the academy because I found a different way to get a whole lot stronger," Naruto explained with a happy grin on his face, an expression of interest appearing on Iruka's face. It was unnecessary for the teacher to say anything as Naruto knew that he should continue._

"_I'm learning really strong taijutsu and working really under Gai-sensei. Lee was really far ahead of me in the beginning, but I think I'm starting to catch up," Naruto began, getting ready to say more before he was interrupted by the astounded Iruka._

"_You mean 'Maito Gai'? How did that happen?" Iruka questioned with interest, remembering Gai to be a really strong shinobi even back in the academy. The Hokage had not told him anything about what Naruto was doing, most likely to encourage Iruka to speak with Naruto in person._

_Naruto seemed to think about Iruka's last question thoughtfully as he spoke with an almost sad expression, "Well, I was really depressed about how weak I was and I was thinking of different ways to train. I didn't want see Yugito getting hurt ever again because I was too weak to save her-," Naruto started to answer the black-haired teacher's question only to be interrupted once again by said teacher._

"_What do you mean? Did Yugito get hurt? Were you in a fight?" Iruka shot off question after question, not believing that he had missed so much after not having talked to Naruto in a while. Iruka was not even aware that Naruto and Yugito knew each other so well in the first place._

"_C'mon, Iruka-sensei! At least let me answer the first question before you ask me so many more! What do you want to know exactly?" Naruto questioned in an exasperated tone of voice as Iruka thought about it for a moment before he looked at Naruto with a serious look and an even more serious tone of voice._

"_I care about you a lot Naruto, so if it's not too much trouble. I want to hear everything that happened to you... since the beginning," Iruka answered, 'the beginning' referring to the day Naruto stopped coming to the academy._

_This was what Iruka had wanted to find out right from the beginning from his talk with Naruto. Iruka wanted to know everything that had happened to Naruto since the blond boy had stopped coming to the Shinobi Academy._

_Naruto thought about it whether or not he should tell Iruka and was actually thinking of refusing, but the words 'I care about you a lot' had struck Naruto more than Iruka probably realized. Naruto saw Iruka as an older brother/father figure in his life as an orphan, so Naruto felt that he couldn't keep anything from Iruka._

_Taking a deep breath and recollecting his thoughts, Naruto nodded as he opened his mouth and told Iruka everything. And by everything, Naruto had told him ever single detail about how he met Yugito, the days he spent with her, the day she nearly got raped, then how he met Gai, the harsh training he went through, the D-rank missions and how he really wanted to make Yugito's life better here than how it was in Kumogakure._

_The part about wanting to make Yugito's life better than what she experienced in Kumogakure was something that he had refrained from even telling the Hokage. It was something he had sworn himself to attempt to do after hearing Inoichi and the Hokage's talk and was hell-bent on keeping it._

_Iruka had remained silent throughout Naruto's story and was silent for a moment even after the blond male had finished. What Naruto had told Iruka was a lot to take in all at once and the teacher was still trying to sort through all the information. Who would've thought that Naruto would have grown so much in as little as six months and it was all do to the intervention of just one person?_

"_I never knew that so much had happened to you, Naruto," Iruka remarked with an almost sad smile of having missed the chances to give Naruto advice when he had really needed it. _

_Iruka remembered Naruto as an immature brat with a few redeemable features, but in such a short amount of time, Naruto had really grown up a lot. Putting so much responsibility on himself was something that Naruto would not have done back before he had met Yugito._

"_It's not a big deal," Naruto replied with a small chuckle and his signature close-eyed grin causing Iruka's small smile to grow into an expression much like Naruto's. Naruto was still that same loveable, energetic, childish boy at heart. Some things would never change about him. _

* * *

After that, just before they said their good-byes, Naruto had made Iruka promise not to say anything about what he was doing for Yugito. Naruto knew that Yugito would blame herself for causing him to work himself so hard when Naruto was doing it of his own free will. Iruka was at first hesitant, but understood his plight and agreed to Naruto's decision, swearing that he would not tell her a single thing of what he had heard.

Iruka was still in shock to hear that Yugito had nearly been violated in her first few days of entering Konohagakure. It made Iruka feel sick to his stomach that such people existed in the village, but also made him proud that Naruto was able to get her to safety in the end. It was clear to Iruka, by the way Naruto explained the sensation that had come over him, that Naruto had called upon the Kyūbi's chakra unconsciously.

If the event had been extremely important or dire, the Hokage would have informed all of the shinobi about the Kyūbi's growing power within Naruto, but that wasn't the case. Hiruzen Sarutobi knew more about the Kyūbi and the seal on Naruto more than anybody else currently in Konoha and everybody had faith in their Hokage's judgment. Therefore, Iruka wasn't too worried about the Kyūbi incident as in the end, it had saved Yugito from a traumatizing experience.

Speaking of the blond-haired female, Iruka was happy to see that despite the fact that she came from a place as far away as Kumogakure, she was still able to insert herself into the everyday life here. With a little bit of Naruto's help those first couple of days of course.

Yugito's lunch group made small talk about a random assortment of topics before Yugito decided to ask what was on her mind, "Any of you guys no where Naruto has been?"

Under Yugito's notice, a quick glance was exchanged between the others of the group.

"What do you mean? I thought you and him were really close. Don't you know?" Kiba asked in response, looking down at Yugito who looked up at him.

An almost pained expression passed her face, 'I thought we were close too.' From the expression alone, the others were easily able to interpret that Yugito had no idea what Naruto had been doing. Yugito slowly began to turn her eyes from Hinata, to Chōji, to Kiba before finally falling on Shikamaru. In turn, everybody shook their head in a negative response.

Yugito looked down in disappointment as another exchange of looks swept over the four who then returned to what they had been doing. Those glances seemed to send a mental message among them. 'We can't tell her. We promised.'

This promise was to none other than Naruto. Unlike Yugito, the other four had already met Naruto recently when the blond had been doing a D-rank mission. Naruto had mopped the floors of the Hyūga Manor, exercised the Inuzuka Clan's shinobi dogs, did some repair work for the Nara Clan and went on food deliveries for the Akimichi Clan.

Naruto had taken the time to speak to each of them before their conversations had ended the same why Naruto had completed it with Iruka. Naruto made them swear that they would not speak a word to Yugito about what he was doing until he decided it was the right time. The four friends had accepted Naruto's terms and had followed it down to the letter since that day.

Although, unlike Naruto's conversation with Iruka, Naruto had not told the others about his training with Gai and Lee, Yugito almost getting raped or any personal information like how she was from Kumogakure and how they lived together. All Naruto told them was that he was working all sorts of different jobs in order to make some extra money.

Soon after the silence, a bell went off from within the Shinobi Academy, alerting the students of the early dismissal. Everybody stood up from their seats in the recess area before stepping back into the compound in order to make their way towards the front doors.

"You guys planning on doing anything?" Shikamaru questioned for no reason in particular, seeing that he would go home and probably take a nap or just go cloud watching, maybe play a game of Shogi with his dad. Hinata, Kiba and Chōji answered quickly in the negative as Yugito looked to give the question some thought.

The five stepped out of the academy doors as Yugito spoke, "I don't thin-". Yugito didn't get to finish as she froze in place to see somebody completely unexpected: Naruto. Everybody from Naruto's class gave the blond a look of acknowledgment since this was the first time he had decided to attend after several weeks.

"Ah, crap! There was early dismissal today!" Naruto remarked in a tone of disbelief as he let out an elongated sigh of self-pity. Looking among all the students, Naruto took note as Yugito slowly began to approach him. Naruto stopped his progress towards her as he gave her his signature close-eyed grin with an ecstatic wave of his hand.

"Oh! Hi, Yugi-," Naruto was unable to finish his greeting before Yugito closed the distance between them and smacked him harshly. Naruto's eyes showed that he was in shock as he kept his head bent back and to one side, his eyes looking at the ground.

Naruto wasn't the only person stunned as most of Naruto's class had stopped in place. Hinata, Shikamaru, Kiba and Chōji were the ones experiencing most of it since they doubted this was that 'right time' that Naruto had been planning.

Naruto's cheeks turned a bright red at the point of contact with an evident hand print as he moved his eyes towards Yugito slowly, maintaining his head where it had turned when she had first struck him. Yugito was breathing heavily with eyes that showed that she felt angry, worry and... betrayed?

"You think you can just disappear for weeks at a time and it'll all be forgotten with a simple 'Hi'!" Yugito shouted with obvious anger, Naruto's expression going from shocked to stoic as he looked away again.

"Did you think that you could keep avoiding me? Did you think I wouldn't notice you changing the topic every time I asked to know what you've been doing? Did you think I'd sit patiently, twiddling my thumbs as I waited for you to decide on answering me?" Yugito continued, getting more and more angry as she clenched her hand into a fist and held it up threateningly. Naruto's eyes returned back on her, his expression stoic, but his eyes showing an underlying feeling of sadness, uncertainty and confusion.

"You think being so distant and quiet makes you look cool? You're not helping anyone! You're just being an asshole!" Yugito began using profanity and although Naruto didn't show it, that last word pierced him deeply. Somebody that Naruto thought the world of was calling him an 'asshole' of all things.

"Making me believe you were a kind, caring person. Making me think we were friends. I feel like such a fool! I actually thought I knew you, but I guess not... Since when did you even start dressing like this? I thought you liked what you wore before and wouldn't change it for anybody! What happened to that? Was that another one of your lies?" Yugito inquired violently, grabbing Naruto by the collar of his new attire and shaking him.

Naruto left his head and body bent backwards, his hair shadowed his eyes as he listened to Yugito's rant.

"When do the lies and secrets end? Just tell me! Where have you been disappearing to? What has gotten you so busy that you can't even spend some time with me? Why do you feel the need to hide so much from me?" the questions that had been on Yugito's mind for the past six months finally left her lips as her voice began to settle slightly.

Yugito was unable to see Naruto's expression as she push him away slightly, letting go of his collar as she stuffed her hands into the pockets of her shinobi pants. Naruto followed to bow his head once more, not feeling that he could look Yugito in the eyes anymore.

"Oh, and did you think that I could be easily bribed too with this shit?" Yugito remarked with some cursing as she threw the wad of money that Naruto had left her at his chest. The currency bounced off Naruto's torso harmlessly as it fell on the ground in Naruto's view. His expression, despite it being unable to be seen, did not change in the slightest.

"Just tell me honestly, please. Why are you doing this to me? Do you hate me? If you do, just say so already!" Out of all the things that Yugito had to say to the blond male, she had just told him something that really affected him. The tears that had welled up in her eyes right from the start of her tirade finally fell from her eyes and down her cheeks. Naruto felt a deep pain in his heart as he watched the tears fall from her chin and down to the ground. Quickly turning his back to Yugito, Naruto got ready to leave, feeling far too confused and in pain to do anything at that moment.

Yugito saw Naruto attempting to get away from her once again and she wasn't about to let that happen as she jumped in front of him with her arms outstretched to her sides, "I'm not letting you leave until you tell me this time around! Just tell me already!"

Yugito really hoped that her belief that Naruto was hiding his true potential was wrong at that moment and the fact that he was called the 'Dead Last' of the class proved true. Unfortunately for Yugito, that was not the case as Naruto vanished from her view and appeared behind her, back to back.

"Please... don't go," Yugito pleaded in a little more than a whisper so that only Naruto could hear her, but in an instant, the feeling of his back pressed against hers disappeared and Naruto was gone.

Dropping her hands to her sides, Yugito noticed that she was holding onto something. Checking, Yugito looked at the palm of her hand to see the money she had been given by Naruto. It had been on the ground a good couple feet away from them. Just how fast was Naruto to be able to place it in her possession without her knowing?

"Naruto..."

* * *

Lee jumped up high in the air with a spin as a devastating heel connected with Naruto's jaw, launching the blond into a string of trees that shattered and fell on impact. As the dust slowly settled, Naruto could be seen on his feet completely uninjured, patting the dust of his clothes.

"Is something bothering you, Naruto?" Lee asked in a rather worried tone as he appeared above Naruto with his leg high in the air which he swung down on the blond.

Naruto gave the black-haired man a confused expression as he grabbed Lee's incoming leg, pulled it forward before swinging his elbow into Lee's face. Lee stopped the elbow before back-flipping well out of the blond's reach as he finally answered Lee's question. "What makes you think that somethings bothering me?"

Lee appeared below Naruto in a low crouch as a kick came up into Naruto's chin, launching the blond into the air. Naruto looked down to see Lee was no longer there, enticing him to look up as Lee's foot came down, rocketing him into the ground below.

Naruto flew into the ground which followed to explode from the collision as a large amount of dust was kicked up into the air. The earth was torn asunder and Naruto was semi-buried within the rubble.

"Now I am certain that we should stop," Lee decided, landing gracefully before walking to the break area where the two training boulders were located in the center of the small clearing. As the dust from Naruto's last beating settled, it revealed that Naruto was once again unscathed. Just how durable had Naruto become?

"What the hell do you mean 'stop'? We just started!" Naruto shouted angrily, not wanting it to end with him getting beaten around.

Lee shook his head negatively as he sat on top of the large rock before explaining his observations to Naruto, "Despite what you say, your heart is not in the spar. Something is distracting you and keeping you from giving one hundred percent of your attention into what your doing."

"I was just warming up, so just get back here!" Naruto denied vehemently to Lee who looked dead set on being against continuing the sparring session. Lee's unchanging expression caused Naruto to feel uncomfortable before the blond bowed his head with a defeated sigh.

Slowly walking over to the oversized stone, Naruto took a seat with his back against it. Naruto couldn't lie that he hadn't been focusing on Lee with everything that happened with Yugito earlier. In truth, Naruto had come to spar with Lee as a means to forget about the confrontation.

"Would you care to tell me what is going on? Although if you don't find it necessary, I won't force you," Lee offered kindly, looking down at Naruto who met his eyes before looking down again thoughtfully. Had it been anybody but Lee or Iruka, Naruto would have probably instantly refused. In the half year that Naruto had continuously trained with Lee, the two had formed an almost brotherly bond.

"Alright, I guess I can tell you, Lee," Naruto decided, pauseing for a moment to recollect all the details of what had happened just a good hour or two ago.

"I decided after our physical training I'd go to the academy so that I could see Yugito again, but there was an early dismissal that day. When I met her in front of the academy... she smacked me across the face," Naruto began with a deep frown on his face while Lee had a look of sheer confusion on his face. Lee hadn't met Yugito in person, but from what Naruto had told him of her, the blond boy thought the world of her.

Nonetheless, Lee remained silent as Naruto continued, "I've been training everyday for the past six months and I've been doing D-rank missions so that I could get a little extra money so that I could help Yugito have a better life here than she had back in Kumogakure. But today... she asked me if I hated her? She called me an 'asshole' and threw the money I gave her back at me, calling it a 'bribe'."

Although Naruto had not shown his expression to Yugito when she had first bombarded him with her harsh words, Naruto did now. The blond male had an expression that showed that he was confused, saddened and felt that all his good intentions had backfired. Lee half closed his eyes as he looked down momentarily, feeling Naruto's pain.

"Yugito kept trying to make me tell her why I've been disappearing all this time... but I can't tell her! If I tell her that I'm doing everything for her, she'd just blame herself! I don't want that!" Naruto explained his conflicted mind set with a raised voice as he squeezed his thighs in frustration.

Lee had remained quiet throughout Naruto's recap, prompting the blond to look up once more to make eye contact with the black-haired taijutsu specialist. Seeing that Naruto was waiting for some advice, Lee closed his eyes as he sorted through the information that Naruto had fed him.

Reopening his eyes, Lee took a deep breath before speaking, "I guess I would advise you to think of the situation from Yugito's own point of view. Other than that, I cannot give you any other proposal, but I feel assured that you will choose the best course of action."

Lee's suggestion was a far cry from what Naruto had been expecting to receive, but it did prove helpful. Standing up, Naruto extended a fist towards Lee who followed to bump it, "Thanks, Lee. I think I'll give what you said some thought."

Lee nodded his head, happy that he could be of assistance to his good friend before saying his good-byes as Naruto disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

* * *

The sun was beginning to set already, painting the sky in beautiful shades of red, orange and yellow. Some shops were beginning to close and very few people were walking along the streets. Naruto just happened to be one of those individuals, still thinking about what Lee had told him.

'Yugito's point of view, huh?' Naruto repeated once again as he recalled everything she had yelled at him and the tears that had fallen from her eyes. His disappearances had caused Yugito to cry while she even begged for an answer.

'She must have been really sad about never seeing me and I was just too busy to notice,' Naruto thought to himself gloomily, hating that he had caused those tears to fall. He had told himself that he never wanted to see Yugito cry again and here he was being the cause.

'I guess I have been getting carried away with all the training and have been neglecting Yugito in the process,' Naruto concluded, using a rather improved vocabulary in comparison to how it had been just a couple months ago.

It went without saying that Lee had a vast vocabulary for somebody of such a young age due to his polite and formal way of speaking. Naruto had spent a total of six months with Lee, so the polite young man had influenced Naruto positively in terms of literacy.

'But how am I gonna go about apologizing and still not tell her that I've been training?' Naruto mused with a sigh, bowing his head once more that day as he continued his slow stroll through Konoha.

It became easily discernible that Naruto had reached his 'Eureka' moment when he suddenly stopped in place with a proud smile on his face. 'I can at least tell her that I was doing D-rank missions to make some money and promise her that I'd spend some more time with her. That way, she'll be happy and I don't have to make her feel responsible!'

Naruto practically jumped fifty feet in the air as he pumped his fist and let out a victorious, "Yahoo!" In Naruto's mind, the ideas was completely full proof and guaranteed him that Yugito would accept his apology. This, however, was a good depiction of exactly how little Naruto knew when it came to apologizing to a female of any age. A great explanation would rarely be enough and in Naruto's case, his chances were even slimmer.

As Naruto landed softly down to the ground, a savory aroma reached his highly developed nose. Naruto took a couple whiffs of the scent as he tracked down the origin. The place the pleasant odor had originated from was, interestingly enough, the Yamanaka Flower Shop. Naruto had actually worked here a few times as per his D-rank mission which was probably why the fragrance had been so familiar.

'Ino said something about every flower having some sort of meaning. Maybe Yugito would like something that said that I was sorry,' Naruto wondered to himself, opening up the glass door and walking in as he looked around at the large arrangements of flower at an affordable price.

Naruto had always liked the natural aspect of the world which is one of the reasons he actually liked to stay in the training ground with its untamed wildlife. Bending down next to one of the flower, Naruto took a whiff of the sweet smell.

"Oh, Naruto. What are you doing here?" a feminine voice caught Naruto's attention as he looked up to see Ino behind the counter of the small shop.

"I was just passing by and thought I'd buy some flowers for someone," Naruto answered with a small smile as slowly walked over to the counter.

Due to Naruto's hiatus from the academy and his help around the shop on certain days, Ino had become less hostile towards him and even a little more friendly. She had been one of the people to have promised Naruto not to inform Yugito of what he had been doing. Ino had found it sweet and uncharacteristic of the Naruto she knew, to go out of his way to make money for someone else to make them happy.

"Is it for Yugito?" Ino asked causing Naruto to tense up before he looked up at the ceiling, letting out a heavy sigh.

"You saw that too?" Naruto inquired, placing his fingertips on the spot Yugito had struck him. Ino actually felt a little bad for Naruto after having seen it, giving the blond male a nod in response.

"Than it would be nice if you could help me find a flower that says 'I'm sorry'," Naruto suggested as he walked to the counter and rested his forearms on it, looking at Ino expectantly.

"Well, nothing says I'm sorry to a girlfriend like roses," Ino recommended obviously, reaching behind her and removing a rose from a small straw woven basket. When she looked back at Naruto, Ino noticed that his face was redder than most of the roses in the shop.

"It's not like that, Ino. Yugito and I are just friends!" Naruto clarified his face beet red, feeling embarrassed that somebody actually thought that he and Yugito were in that kind of a relationship.

"Really? All the trouble you're going through to make Yugito happy is something a boyfriend would do for his girlfriend, isn't it?" Ino actually looked surprised, finding the relationship really complex. Naruto couldn't help but go even redder as he wondered how many others came to that sort of false conclusion.

"Yugito's not from the village and I was the first person she met. I'm just helping her get settled in," Naruto assured Ino who took Naruto's vague explanation as it made sense and fit the situation. Shrugging, not really caring all that much about Naruto's love life anyways, Ino continued looking around.

"If you're dead set against it, then how about some purple Hyacinth," Ino proposed, pointing to the purple bulbous plant that was actually right next to the roses. They were also beautiful and had the meaning of 'I am sorry' and 'Please forgive me', but were more widely used when apologizing to a friend. All kunoichi were required to take special classes like floral arrangements, so Naruto was sure that Yugito would understand the meaning behind the flower.

"They look nice and purple is Yugito's favorite color. I'll take a bouquet," Naruto decided, not even bothering to ask how much it was since he was loaded at the moment and didn't see how flowers could be that expensive. Even if it was, he'd still end up buying it since Yugito's forgiveness was priceless.

"Oh, so you know her favorite color too?" Ino teased as she began to put the bouquet that Naruto would be giving to Yugito later on that night.

Naruto blushed as he once again opposed Ino's conclusions, "I just assumed since that's the color she usually wears!" Ino just waved off Naruto's rebuttal, only getting Naruto that much more worked up. Naruto was too flustered to realize that Ino was only doing it just to get a rise out of him.

In a matter of minutes, Ino had finished the beautiful bouquet and placed it gently on the counter as Naruto purchased the set of flowers. Grabbing them, Naruto turned around and waved his goodbyes behind his back.

"Hope everything works out," Ino genuinely told the blond boy as he thanked her before pushing open the glass door and stepping out into the streets.

* * *

Night had fallen as the moonlight shined through the blinds of the bedroom and on Yugito's strewn out form on the bed. Upon arriving home that afternoon after her fight with Naruto, Yugito had come back to her and Naruto's home and instantly took a nap. Yugito had just woken up and was looking back at the argument with a clear head when before it had been clouded with anger and sadness.

'Maybe I was a little to harsh,' Yugito thought to herself, rolling onto her back as she looked at the hand that she had used to strike him.

Putting her hand back down, she sighed before throwing her feet of the bed and sitting up right. 'Naruto probably won't talk to me anymore after that,' Yugito realized, her mood dropping by several degrees, but pushing the depressing thought to the back of her mind.

Standing up with her stomach grumbling lowly, Yugito slowly walked out of the bedroom and to the kitchen where she opened the fridge and bent down as she took a look inside. It was relatively empty as Yugito had not gotten the chance to go grocery shopping, but there was enough to make a sandwich before she went back to bed.

Just as she was about to get ready to make herself something to eat, Yugito heard a knock at the door. "Who could that be?" Yugito wondered to herself as she closed the refrigerator and slowly walked over to the door.

Turning the handle and carefully opening the door, Yugito's eyes widened in shock and her breath was practically taken right out of her. Naruto was standing right in front of the door with his left hand behind his back and his right hand outstretched with the bouquet of beautiful purple Hyacinths. The moonlight shown on the flowers and on Naruto, adding a little shine to his hair, eyes and lips which were turned up in a small, soft and hopeful smile.

Naruto was also treated to a rather beautiful sight as Yugito had changed out of her shinobi attire that she wore to the academy and was dressed in a pair of very short blue shorts that came a quarter of the way down her toned thighs and a black tank top. The clothing hugged her curves and as the moonlight fell on her, it brought out her purple irises, blond hair that was flowing down her shoulder and back, her soft pink lips and creamy peach skin.

A deep blush tainted Yugito's cheeks as a tingly sensation erupted all over her body at the sight. "Yugito. I just want to say that I'm really sorry and if you'll give me one more chance, I think I can make it up to you," Naruto spoke in a soft and caring voice that caused a small smile to come upon Yugito's face while the blush only got deeper.

The scene was something that probably would have come straight out of a romantic movie, but instead of the main characters being in a relationship, Naruto and Yugito were just simply friend.

Yugito began to stammer lightly as she began toying with her hair while Naruto was waiting for her response, a slight blush appearing on his cheeks as well. Yugito looked really beautiful and cute at that moment to him, although he wouldn't say it out loud.

"C-come on i-in," Yugito offered a little flustered, motioning with her hands for Naruto to step in. Naruto did as Yugito said as he handed the flowers to her. Yugito's blush intensified as she held the flowers in her hands in breathed in the wondrous aroma.

"I'll put this in a vase with water," Yugito stated as she left to the kitchen, finding an empty vase before filling it with water as she placed the Hyacinths within.

As Yugito walked back to where she had left Naruto, she saw the blond male place a plastic bag on top of the small dining table. "I bought us something to eat while I tell you what you want to know," Naruto explained, Yugito still surprised that Naruto had actually come and was even more in awe that he was willing to tell her everything that had happened. Naruto really did still care!

Yugito took a seat across from Naruto as the blond male went into the bag and removed two foam trays like the ones they had eaten from half a year ago. Yugito took one from Naruto's outstretched and as she opened it up, her eyes widened in complete bewilderment. Within the plastic foam, the food Naruto had bought for the both of them, was tekkadon.

"How did you-," Yugito stopped midway through her sentence astounded as she looked up at Naruto, not understanding how he knew what her favorite food was. The only time Yugito had even mentioned that was to Teuchi when they had gone to Ichiraku Ramen together all those months ago and Naruto had been busy eating ramen.

"I might look ignorant some of the time, but I won't forget the things that make you smile," Naruto responded, not really noticing the deeper meaning behind it. Yugito, however, knew it and her face went crimson. She knew that Naruto wasn't too understanding of the power of his words and was mentally cursing the blond for his ignorance. How ironic...

Yugito decided not to say anything, mostly because she knew that at the moment she was a flustered mess, but also cause she hadn't eaten tekkadon in most likely a year. Breaking the chopsticks she began to savor every last bite of the food as Naruto just watched her with a soft smile on his face.

Naruto opened his own foam tray as he finished it up in practically three mouth fulls, not having eaten since the morning. Letting out a satisfied burp, Naruto brought his attention back to Yugito who was still taking regular sized bites. Yugito was taking her time eating while she gave Naruto a hopeful look.

"Alright, I think it's time I told you what I've been doing," Naruto began, interlocking his fingers as he brought them to the front of his mouth, momentarily closing his eyes. Yugito continued to chew, swallow and take another bite while she waited for Naruto to begin.

"To be completely honest with you, Yugito... I want to tell you everything that's been going on, but it isn't the right time for it. What I can tell you is that one of the reasons I've been gone is that I have been taking small jobs around the village to make some extra money. We don't get a lot from Jii-chan, so I thought that you might like being able to buy somethings for yourself other than just food... It wasn't to 'bribe' you, I just thought it'd make you happy," Naruto explained genuinely.

Yugito felt like kicking herself, feeling horrible that she had called Naruto's pure and heartfelt intentions a 'bribe'. She had pretty much thrown dirt on Naruto's gift to her. Yugito also felt incredibly awful that due to her, Naruto felt like he should have put himself threw such hard work in order to make something. What Yugito didn't know was that the jobs weren't so much difficult as they were tedious.

"I'm really sorry," Yugito managed to say after a brief pause causing a small smile to come upon Naruto's face as he was actually wondering what she was apologizing for.

"There's nothing to be sorry about. It's my fault for being gone for so long. I let so much get in the way and was so focused on other things that I never stopped to think of how you felt. Today made me realize that I've really changed since a half a year ago. I know that you might not be happy with me not telling you everything... but if I promise that I'll spend some more time with you. Will you accept my apology, so that we can be friends again?" The request had come from deep within Naruto's heart as he waited optimistically for Yugito's response. Naruto watched as Yugito put down her chopsticks and slowly stood up with her head bowed and her hair shadowing her eyes.

"Uh, Yugito. What's wrong?" Naruto asked apprehensively as the blond female stood up and walked around the table to Naruto. Was he going to get hit again, since from what Naruto remembered, Yugito did tend to lean to the side of violence?

Naruto suddenly felt himself get tackled and carried off his chair and onto the ground. Groaning a bit, having hit his head on the ground, Naruto noticed that Yugito's head was pressed against his chest and her arms were wrapped around his torso. Naruto readily blushed as Yugito looked up at him with her hair sprawled out over the two of them.

"Apology accepted. I just have to thank you for everything... You were doing so much for me and I didn't even notice," Yugito thanked with a somber smile, happy that the thought of Naruto hating her had been completely wrong, but was still mad that she had caused him to put himself through labor. In the end, Naruto was still that same kind guy that she had first met and that was never going to change about him.

"It's the least I could do for you, Yugito."

* * *

**Well then, i hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. If you have any questions, feel free to drop them in a review and I'll respond to it at the top of the next chapter.**

**Once again, this is the last chapter of Seraph's Embrace and I'll be taking over from here on in. Chapter 7 is already done, but I will probably release it 2 or 3 days from now. I'm trying to space out the chapter updates by having a few done ahead of time so that release dates aren't too sporadic or 2-3 weeks long.**

**Chapter 7 was kinda of a pain to do, it was long, boring, but necessary. Title of chapter is "Team 7" you guys can all guess what it'll be about.**

**Anyways, hope you guys enjoy the chapter and I'll see you guys again in 2-3 days. I'm going back to outlining the second arc.**

**Till the next time I update, have a good day/night.**

**-Reprise**


	7. Team 7

**Author's Note: Well, despite what I said in the ending author's note in the last chapter. I decided to upload this right after. Back to back to back, how do you like that :P Anyways, let me respond to a few reviews:**

**DeathDemonWolf:** Thanks for the kind words and here's another chapter immediately after the one you read yesterday :D. As for your questions, I alluded to it in the previous chapter with the whole "the tree(Goken) and its many branches" and it will be revealed in the next arc so maybe like 4-5 chapters. I also didn't want Naruto to be a carbon copy of Lee so I decided to give Naruto something a little different. I'll give you a hint, its something that you don't see Lee or Gai use much if at all. Go ahead and try and guess and I'll give you another hint in the next review response if you do/don't get it :P. Enjoy the chapter!

**Legionary Prime: **I appreciate the kind word. It probably doesn't bother you as much since Yugito wasn't really mentioned in the manga at all and only showed up as a corpse. Again, thanks for compliment and I hope you enjoy the chapters to come.

**BanefulWarrior: **I'm not gonna tell you because it is obviously going to be in this chapter, so read on my precious reader and enjoy :D.

**plums: **Alright dude, listen up. I've already stated that the first 6 chapters were already pre-written by the previous author and that I decided that I wouldn't change them. I also don't agree completely with the whole 'secrets' thing, but I'm not going to change it because its really not the controlling them and only may be spoken of in passing.

You act as if you are the only one that disliked a few things in the manga/anime. You think I liked how weak Naruto was after training with Jiraiya for five years or the way Sasuke went as a character? There are certain things i disliked as well and I plan to change them. But listen closely, you are trying to get me to morph my plans for the story so it'll be something that is exactly what you want to read. If you dislike the story, go read something else, its plain and simple. I'm not revamping the story over the disapproval of one person. Oh yeah, and you automatically assume I'm having a Wave Arc, well let me tell you something and whoever else is reading this something, there is no Wave Arc. It will be my on original arc after this one.

I understand if you want to give constructive criticism, I'll accept it and improve on what you told me, but if you want to just bash or try and make me change the entire idea then don't even bother because I won't even respond to it. This story starts diverging from cannon after this initial introductory arc and my contributions to the story start with this chapter. If you see a problem with this chapter, then I myself will take the blame. Thanks for the review.

**potterfanforever:** First off, forgive me if I misunderstand your review in anyway. I haven't thought much about the reincarnation in terms of this story since it feels so far off, but if you ask this question again a couple tens of chapters later once I start giving it more thought I'll be glad to answer it. But personally, I believe that reviving the dead has a lot more uses then simply using them to fight, if that gives you something to think about.

As for Naruto being 99% Rasengan, I completely agree with you. It's that and the shadow clones. That's why I refuse to do the same things, but I also don't want Naruto knowing a ridiculous number of jutsu since it wouldn't feel like Naruto. Naruto's fighting style is simplistic and really in your face, so I'll be doing that, but he won't just have rasengan and shadow clones. Just read the story as Naruto grows and tell me what you think. Thanks for the review and I hope to hear from you again. Enjoy.

**MAnku:** Didn't have to wait very long, did ya? :P

Whoever the guest was, I completely agree with you on that fact, but it's what the original author put in the story and I already stated that I would use his exact first 6 chapters no filter. I'm not going to make myself a liar.

**GundamWing-00-Seed:** I believe there was the original Worth Protecting that my friend really rushed through without any goal in mind. Then he revamped it and made these six chapter before this one. Then he created a new account under a new name for a fresh start hoping that he would be able to stay dedicated, but life had other plans. After that I took over and I plan to keep it going as best as I can with routinely updates. So me taking over this fanfiction would be the fourth time you've read it if you were there from the beginning. Well anyways, here's the first chapter of progression from the original. Tell me what you think and I hope you enjoy.

**Cainsanity2016:** Well you don't have to wait very long since it's already here. Thanks for sticking around for so long and I hope you enjoy it.

**Myrolerian:** I appreciate the warning and I'll give you one in return. I can estimate that this Introductory Arc will take between 90k-100k chapters with only 2 chapters after this one left in the arc. I warn you that this chapter and the next chapter are really canon-based, but it completely diverges from it right after, so just bare with it please, you won't regret it. Thanks for the review and I hope to hear from you again. Enjoy the chapter and the ones to come.

**End of response to reviews. Whew.**

**I don't think a lot of you guys read the beginning or end author's note, but if you do then hear me out before you go on to read. I personally believe that my friend and I write relatively alike since we kinda collaborated in the past, but I'm worried that my creative writing skill has rusted in the past year since I've only been writing essays for school. Anyways, i hope my writing isn't too bad for my first try and if its not so good I'll try and improve by the next chapter. Thanks for hearing me out if you read this.**

**Anyways, here's the first chapter under knew ownership, please enjoy and don't flame me too hard :/**

**Enjoy :D.**

* * *

**Worth Protecting**

**Chapter 7: Team 7**

(Time Skip – Three Months)

Naruto stared at the ceiling whilst lying in his futon with the sun just rising over the horizon outside his window. Naruto lifted his hand into the streams of sunlight that spilled through the semi-open blinds. Naruto looked at the palm of his hand with an indeterminable look.

'The Graduation Exams are tomorrow...,' Naruto trailed off in his contemplation as he slowly clenched his hand into a fist.

Naruto's daily routine had gone through a rather drastic metamorphosis since three months ago. Since Yugito had confronted him all those months ago, Naruto had rarely missed a day at the Shinobi Academy.

Naruto's change in attendance had caught the attention of his classmates and especially those that had seen Yugito challenge Naruto. Remarks like 'walking on a leash' and 'whipped' had been pretty embarrassing for him to deal with. Despite that, Naruto was able to communicate and develop close relationships with his academy friends. This was something he would have neglected if Yugito hadn't done what she did.

Still, in all actuality, the prominent reason for Naruto's exponential improvement in attendance was due to the slackening of his training. Gai had already taught them the fundamentals, various forms and advanced techniques while also developing the other aspects that made a great Gōken practitioner. Naruto's taijutsu training had now dwindled to physical training and light sparring.

Physical training under Gai had never gotten easier, but the repetitiveness caused Naruto to lose interest. Likewise, sparring with Lee had grown boring and tiresome since they were not permitted to go all out. Gōken was not a fighting style where you can go all out without it resulting in broken bones... or death.

Besides, once a pupil made it to a certain point in his training, diverging from his teacher was common. Naruto had found out about the many branches that made up the tree that was Gōken, one of which had caught his eye. Gai, whether consciously or not, had strayed away from it which has instilled a desire in Naruto to experiment with it.

It was obvious to Naruto that Lee was getting special one on one time with Gai, but Naruto couldn't say that he was surprised nor was he jealous. Unlike himself, Lee could only use taijutsu and therefore needed the extra push to put him over those who could also use ninjutsu and/or genjutsu.

Realizing that his time was slipping away, Naruto pushed his thoughts to the back of his mind, opting to focus on the present. Despite not wanting to workout, Naruto used the extremely early mornings before school for just that. He had worked himself to the bone with Gai to get the body that he currently had, and there was no way in hell Naruto would let it wear away.

Naruto placed his palm on the ground, flipping to his feet in one fluid motion. "Alright. Workout, then a quick shower," Naruto decided in a low voice, careful not to wake Yugito.

Naruto quickly got dressed, tidied up his futon and quietly opened the window. Not wanting to risk creating a 'bang' by using the door, Naruto cleanly exited out the window and rushed towards his personal training area.

* * *

A few hours passed before Yugito's own internal alarm rang. A low groan escaped her as she pushed herself up into a sitting position with her elbows and tiredly rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, releasing a small yawn.

With her eyes adjusted to the new light intensity, Yugito kicked off the covers before hopping out of her bed. 'Guess I should show before anything else,' Yugito thought to herself as she walked over to the single closet to select a clean outfit.

Yugito carried the stack of clothing out of the bedroom and towards the bathroom. She reached over to the doorknob and took a firm grip of it. That very same doorknob abruptly twisted itself and the door swung open.

The sudden movement jerked Yugito forward as she felt herself collide with something hard and damp which caved in with her. Feeling a little dazed, Yugito rubbed her face into what she had fallen on with slight groan of pain.

Blinking a few times, Yugito was able to focus her vision before finally looking up from what she thought was the ground. Yugito felt a shiver go down her spine when she found herself staring into a pair of deep blue eyes.

"Na-ruto?"

Yugito's face was mere centimeters away from the young man's face, her bust pressed against his chest and her legs were entangled with his. Her hair draped over her shoulders and fell onto his chest. A reddish hue flushed her cheeks as she unconsciously bit her lips. Naruto was damp, but Yugito could feel the warmth from his body.

Yugito was dressed in a pair of dark purple shorts and a black tank top which hugged her still developing curves. Naruto had even less covered since he was clothed in nothing but a tower, fresh out of the shower.

Naruto's own cheeks began to burn a light red as he took in the sight before him. Naruto definitely couldn't say that he didn't like the feeling of Yugito's supple thighs rubbing against his skin or the pressure of her chest on his. The innocent expression on her face made her look so cute in his eyes which he kept firmly entranced with her own.

A short moment passed between them before Yugito hurriedly pushed her to her feet and turned her back to him. She was incredibly flustered and the reddish hue covering her cheeks had deepened.

"Oh, Naruto! I didn't know that you were home! I thought you were out in the morning you usually are! I was actually just going to take a show-," Yugito spoke rather frantically which was just proof that of how embarrassed she was.

"Is it my turn to start throwing sinks around?" Naruto joked, alluding to a scene from back when they had first become acquainted. Hearing the teasing remark, Yugito momentarily forgot about her current position and turned to face Naruto with a sharp rebuttal at the tip of her tongue.

Yugito would quickly come to regret her decision, as her rebuttal fizzled out and her breath hitched. Despite all the time the two blonds had been living together, they had never seen each other not fully clothed other than that one time Naruto had seen Yugito a long time ago.

Although she didn't know it herself, the results of Gai's training was being showcased right in front of her. Yugito had a perfect view of every crevice that made up Naruto's chiseled upper body from his broad shoulders, down his robust chest and each segment of his abs to the v cut that topped it all off. Naruto's slightly wet hair draped down his forehead and slightly over his eyes which shone a cerulean blue. The sunlight made his hair and body glisten while his eyes gained a penetrative aspect to them. Yugito had to will her body to resist reaching over and touching the figure in front of her.

Snapping herself out of her stupor quickly as to not arouse suspicion, Yugito looked away once more before carrying out with her response to Naruto's earlier comment. "I didn't think a fool like you would be able to operate something as 'complex' as a shower."

Yugito just wanted this whole embarrassing situation to just end so her rebuttal was a lot sharper than she had first intended. Luckily for her, Naruto never took any of the insults to heart when one of these teasing games were initiated.

To Yugito's relief, Naruto defused the situation with a few hearty chuckles. Being young and inexperienced with the opposite sex in any shape or form, Naruto was ignorant to sensitive situations and didn't understand things that many others knew as common knowledge.

"I'll be more careful when I open the door next time. You could have hit the floor pretty hard if I hadn't cushioned your fall," Naruto stated in a slightly more serious tone as he brushed past Yugito who acknowledged the movement without looking at him directly.

"Don't take forever like you usually do. Okay? I feel like actually getting to the academy on time for once," Naruto uttered quickly, swinging the door closed behind him before Yugito could lash out at him. They both knew that they had never been late to the academy because of something like that, but Yugito always found it annoying when Naruto mentioned how long she took to get ready in the morning.

In the past three months, Naruto and Yugito had gotten incomparably closer now that Naruto was actually around for the most part. They had built an almost sibling relationship with one another and that was when this teasing game of theirs had taken form. Yugito usually always won these bouts of wit with Naruto, and whenever she lost, it was usually because he had some upper hand.

Yugito stared at the door Naruto left with an annoyed scowl on her face. She had been defeated and the upper hand he had was obvious to her whereas Naruto was oblivious. Sighing in self-pity, Yugito went to getting undressed to take a shower before something caught her attention.

Yugito remembered that she was carrying a pile of clothes that she would change into after showering in her hands. Looking around, Yugito found the assortment sitting right on the sink next to the shower, but Yugito was one hundred percent sure that she didn't put it there. In fact, she was almost certain that she had scattered them all over the place when she had fallen into Naruto.

Yugito had a suspicion that Naruto had a hand in this conundrum, but decided to leave it alone. She had wasted enough time with the whole scene that had just occurred. Yugito undressed herself and got into the bath as she began her morning ritual to begin her day.

* * *

Yugito stepped out of the bathroom fully clothed in her shinobi attire: a pair of black pants, black sandals, and a black short sleeved shirt with a light purple, sleeveless, zip-up jacket over it. She was drying her hair with the towel in her hand when she was hit by a heavenly aroma. It was coming from where the dining table was.

Naruto was currently sitting on one of the dining table chairs with his head tilted back and his eyes closed. In front of him was an empty plate with crumbs left of the food that used to be there. Right across the empty plate was a full one with eggs, bacon and toast.

Yugito's mouth watered in anticipation as a childish smile came to her face, her canines poking out slightly. She dropped the towel in her hand instantaneously as she pounced onto the remaining chair and looked at her food with glistening eyes.

The noise created from Yugito's rushing was enough to wake up the napping Naruto who looked down as he kept his head tilted back. Yugito showed hardly any restraint as she took mouthful after mouthful of the tasty meal with that same youthful happiness. Naruto could not suppress the smile that graced his features.

In a matter of minutes, Yugito had already completed her breakfast and dropped the utensils in the empty plate as she lent back against the dining chair with her hands on her inflated stomach. Her eyes were closed as she turned her head up towards the ceiling with contentment as she let out a light belch.

Naruto snickered at hearing the sound grabbing Yugito's attention as she realized that Naruto was awake. Yugito looked embarrassed once she realized that Naruto heard the unfeminine noise as she went scarlet red and looked down with her hand scratching the back of her head.

Naruto chuckled as he stood up and gathered the dirty plates, "Don't be so embarrassed, it's just me. Besides, that was actually kinda cute."

Yugito blushed for a different reason as she looked at Naruto with slightly widened eyes letting out a questioning noise. Naruto went into the kitchen and placed the dishes in the sink before elaborating, "It'd be boring if you acted like some noble woman! It doesn't suit you!"

Yugito didn't know whether Naruto was trying to compliment her or offend her. She just shook her head and just ignored it since with Naruto, you never really knew.

"Well, thanks for breakfast. I actually forgot that you even knew how to cook, but since you're so good at it..." Yugito explained with a small smile, obviously insinuating that Naruto should do it more often.

"Don't get used to it. Besides, the only reason it tasted that good was because I had a lot of time to do it! " Naruto explained, pushing Yugito's button. No matter how many times Naruto used that against her, Yugito always got aggravated. Yugito didn't see anything wrong with taking her sweet time in the morning if there wasn't any rush to get ready.

"It's not like I asked you to cook! For your information, it tasted like crap anyways!" Naruto cringed at the painful remark, but Naruto had gained a trump card only just a few moments ago and was more than ready to use it.

"Oh really! It didn't seem like it when you were patting your stomach and burping up a storm!" Yugito babbled a comeback in some incoherent language as she couldn't think of anything to say back.

Naruto pumped a fist in the air as he let out a happy laugh, "Damn, I'm on fire today!" Yugito bowed her head slightly in defeat once again. Yugito wanted to get mad, but Naruto had that signature close-eyed grin that stopped her.

Yugito was going to feel annoyed, but Naruto had that signature close-eyed grin and had entered 'child mode' and it kept Yugito from getting mad at him.

"Let's just get going. Iruka-sensei is going to be explaining the procedures for the Graduation Exam tomorrow. Did you master those three jutsu?" Yugito inquired of her roommate.

Despite living together all this time, Yugito knew nothing about Naruto's training or level of skill and vice-versa. However, Yugito was aware that all academy students trained outside of school to hone more specialized skills and thus, Yugito assumed that Naruto was doing the same whenever they weren't together so that he could surpass his rival, Sasuke Uchiha and eventually become Hokage.

Yugito had no proof that her assumption was correct mainly due to Naruto's aloof nature the past three months in the academy. During class reevaluations at the beginning of the weak, Naruto always chose not to participate, even when offered to fight against Sasuke. Naruto instead seemed to channel his energies into harassing Iruka along with his three friends.

"Oh those! I had them down a while ago. It's pretty easy once you spend three years practicing them," Naruto explained with a weak chuckle at the end and Yugito decided not to probe any further.

Naruto held open the door for Yugito before stepping outside behind her. Yugito's eyes immediately fell on something both comical yet very degrading. The Hokage Monument, the pride of Konohagakure, was covered in graffiti, making it look like something from a child's sketch pad.

"Do you like it? It was pretty hard to get it done without anyone seeing with all the damn security! Can't draw in peace! Damn!" Naruto remarked, but a smile remained on his face as the chance of getting caught was part of the thrill.

Naruto had returned to his old shenanigans after giving them up to train and he had become a force to be reckoned with. Whereas in the past Naruto would always get caught and reprimanded for his pranks, nobody was able to catch Naruto in the act anymore. Using his speed, Naruto spent countless trials improving his ability to get in and get out as quickly as possible. Stealth and deception was a skill most shinobi were required to master in order to become great, and Naruto was actually making it child's play unknowingly.

Yugito giggled despite feeling that what Naruto had done was wrong. "You shouldn't do something like that to the pride of the village. It's wrong and should be beneath you," Yugito chastised although she couldn't help smiling at her friend's antics.

"You're right, Yugito," Naruto accepted in a defeated tone as he looked down. Yugito was taken aback as she didn't think Naruto would accept her words so easily.

"I could do so much better than that! I'll do something way over the top for next time!" Naruto shouted, a fire burning in his eyes causing Yugito to sweatdrop. Her words had the opposite effect of what she had planned them to.

'I'm sorry, Konoha,' Yugito thought to herself, feeling really bad for the villagers that would become victim to Naruto's games.

"Alright! Let's get going, Yugito! I want to get this Academy thing done as soon as possible! I'm all fired up!" Naruto exclaimed all full of energy as he crouched slightly before jumping to the top a nearby roof and bounding away.

"Wait, Naruto!" Yugito shouted after him.

'Why is he always on a sugar high?' Yugito wondered to herself as she sighed.

'So much for him walking with me to school?' Yugito thought with a smirk before coiling her legs and pouncing on top of the apartment before rushing after him.

* * *

A resounding bell emanated from within the Shinobi Academy before a crowd of students exploded out of the exits and out into the front yard. In the mob, Naruto, Yugito, Hinata, Kiba, Chōji and Shikamaru were making their way to their respective destinations.

"Well, I'll see you guys tomorrow for the exams. I have some business to attend to this afternoon," Naruto spoke strangely polite, but that made the mischievous look in his eyes that much more noticeable.

"What type of business would someone like you have?" Kiba asked derogatorily, pointing at the blond whose eyes narrowed in concentration.

"Trust me, Kiba. You'll figure it out soon enough," Naruto remarked with an expression that looked like that of a predator who had selected his target.

Kiba didn't know why exactly, but he felt a chill go up his spine. He then felt somebody place a hand on his shoulder and turned to see it belonged to Yugito. "Lock your doors or some stray cats might make it into your manor," Yugito warned in a worried tone of voice so that everybody in the group could hear her except Naruto.

Everybody looked from Yugito then back to Naruto who had a smug expression on his face with one eyebrow raised as if to say 'try me'. The future clan heads couldn't help but gulp out of reflex at the horrors that might befall them.

Seeing the morbid atmosphere that seemed to overtake everyone, Naruto let out a loud and long laugh. "Don't take everything so seriously, I'm actually just busy today. Good luck on the test tomorrow. See ya later tonight, Yugito," Naruto advised before saying his good-byes and lightly jogging into the crowd. Once he was out of sight, he seemed to vanish into thin air, not that anybody could see him.

"He has a way of escaping into the crowd, doesn't he?" Shikamaru remarked with a lazed expression as he took a few steps forward.

"What did he mean that he'd see you later tonight?" Kiba questioned Yugito with a knowing look on his face, which was mostly to tease her rather than it being supported by any fact.

Yugito went red slightly as she still had not informed anybody that she was actually living with Naruto. Yugito didn't want to say anything as it would just cause a lot of unwanted attention. Naruto seemed to have caught on with how uncomfortable she was with the subject and had withheld that information as well. The only person in school that knew about them living together was Iruka, but as a teacher, he had a lot of information that should be kept confidential.

"We were just going to review the three jutsu for tomorrow. We wouldn't want him failing again," Yugito covered up quickly with an actual plausible answer. Everybody seemed to accept it before a depressing air came upon them as they thought about Naruto failing for another year. Naruto had become such a big part in their everyday life that it would be simply weird if he was left behind while everybody else moved up.

"Make sure he passes then, because I'm not gonna feel like graduating if he doesn't," Shikamaru explained with a small smirk before waving his good-byes over his shoulder. Chōji followed behind Shikamaru while saying his good-byes as well, just as he threw away an empty pack of chips and opened up a new one.

Yugito couldn't help but smile at that bond between Shikamaru, Chōji and Naruto. Would she do the same thing if Naruto didn't graduate? Probably, but Naruto wouldn't be okay if he held her back.

"No point talking about it since he said that he mastered them awhile ago," Yugito said in response, causing Kiba to shrug as he would be graduating whether or not Naruto did. The remaining three academy students split off, Yugito leaving towards the apartment while Kiba went with Hinata to their respective manors.

* * *

Gai was taking a brisk walk towards the training grounds that he and his two pupils used. The sun began to fall giving the sky an orange hue. There wasn't any training scheduled for today since Lee had just arrived back from a mission and was ordered to take a break, but the ANBU informed Gai of Naruto's chakra spikes at that location. It peaked Gai's interest to see what his blond student was up to and it also gave him a reason to put off giving his report to the Hokage.

Gai arrived at Naruto's location in moments and rested his back against the trees, not making his presence known so he could take notes on what Naruto was doing before walking in. From what he could see, Naruto was lying on the ground with his arms far out to his sides as he breathed heavily. The blond had taken off his black tracksuit and his bright orange T-shirt was drenched in sweat.

"Okay! One more time!" Naruto pumped himself up, springing to his feet before making a couple hand seals. Gai looked at the hand seals as a sense of nostalgia seemed to hit him.

"**Bunshin no Jutsu(Clone Technique)!**" Naruto called the name of a jutsu that should have created a perfect copy of himself, but instead created a white, crumpled heap on the floor next to him. The failed attempt burst into smoke as Naruto fell backwards.

"FUCK! Why can't I do it! It's been two damn years!" Naruto shouted out loud, banging his fists against the floor.

Naruto, who wasn't expecting a response, looked up surprised when one came. "I can tell you why, but it won't help you master the technique," the voice of Gai emanated from the foliage as Gai slowly walked out of his hiding place.

"What do you mean? If I know what's wrong, I'll be able to find a way to fix it, right?" Naruto looked at Gai with a questioning expression, not even bothering to ask how long Gai had been there.

"That's a good way to look at things..., but sometimes, even when you know why, the problem just can't be fixed. This is one of those times," Gai explained, taking a brief pause before continuing, "You, Naruto, are a rare individual gifted with a vast amount of chakra that is easily equal to the amount most jōnin have and it has yet to even mature! For that reason, you don't have any proper control and control of it is nearly impossible without years of experience!"

Naruto felt joy at the fact that he was being praised by his teacher for his chakra reserves, but it was diminished by the horror of being in the academy for the rest of his life. "So what can I do? If I don't get this technique down by tonight, I'm gonna get left back again! I'm tired of being left behind by everyone!"

"Relax, Naruto!" Gai shouted, shushing Naruto's yelling before explaining, "This technique is already unnecessary for you to use since you'll be able to pass with simply your taijutsu just like Lee did."

Naruto went silent for a second as he looked down musing something around in his head. Raising his hand, Naruto looked at his sweaty and dirty palm. Naruto had a rare stoic expression about him as he clenched his fist and looked up at his teacher.

"I'm happy... I really am. But still, I'm not quitter. I refuse to leave today without being able to make a clone. I set my mind on it and I told Yugito I had them mastered. I'm not a liar and I'm not going back on my word," Naruto spoke, his eyes full of determination as he stared at Gai who's smirk turned into a smile.

"That's my pupil! Never give up! While in the springtime of youth, ANYTHING is possible," Gai spontaneously entered his eccentric mode and nearly blew Naruto's ear out. Still, Naruto was excited and pumped for Gai's method. Gai had never failed Naruto before so the blond was sure he'd get this down before tomorrow morning.

Gai sat down in front of Naruto, crossing his legs before closing his eyes for a moment in concentration. "Alright, here's the plan. We're going to forget about the Bunshin No Jutsu(Clone Technique) and I'll give you another clone technique suited more to a shinobi of your strength. I'll be teaching you the Kage Bunshin No Jutsu(Shadow Clone Technique)," Gai explained after opening his eyes to pupil who listened carefully, hiding the fact that he was bursting in anticipation after hearing this new more powerful sounding technique.

"This is how the technique works..."

* * *

Night had fallen as Gai was returning to where Naruto was practicing his new jutsu after giving his mission report to the Hokage. Along the way, Gai had run into Kakashi Hatake, an old friend of his since the green beast's academy days.

Kakashi was a fair-skinned, fit and relatively tall shinobi. He had spiky white hair, and dark eyes. He wore his forehead protector tilted to the left cover one of his eyes and a mask which obscured the lower-half of his face. Just like all other shinobi of a jōnin rank, Kakashi were the Konohagakure flackjacket.

"So what have you been up to Gai? It's been awhile since I've seen you around," Kakashi spoke in an bored tone of voice like he usually did with a minimal amount of interest shown.

"Doing missions with my genin team and training my pupils. It takes time to bring about greatness," Gai explained in a matter of fact tone, Kakashi taking his eyes off his Icha Icha book momentarily to look at Gai.

"'Pupils'? I thought you only took that boy that couldn't do ninjutsu under your wing?" Kakashi wondered, not having been aware that Gai had taken another pupil.

"That was true up until a couple months after I first started training Lee. My other pupil came to me with his head bowed and begged for me to train him. I couldn't bring myself to deny him!" Gai told in a loud voice with dramatic tears pooling down his eyes, making it seem a little over the top to Kakashi.

"And he hasn't broken yet?" Kakashi asked with an eye smile, knowing first hand how ridiculous some of Gai's training methods were. It took a will of steel to get through some of it and although Kakashi could probably manage it, he wasn't willing to try.

"Of course not! Everything that didn't break him made him stronger! He's actually training at this very moment, hard at work learning the Kage Bunshin No Jutsu(Shadow Clone Technique)!" Gai praised his student, bringing a rare sign of interest in Kakashi who had never heard of a genin attempting a jōnin level skill.

"I won't believe it till I see it. It's kind of outrageous, don't you think?" Kakashi put on a straight face as he denied Gai's claims. Gai merely gave a shining white smile that gave off a 'ping' before motioning for Kakashi to follow him.

* * *

Kakashi stood next to Gai behind a tree, masking their presence as they looked at Naruto who brushed the sweat off his forehead. He had a bright smile on his face, immediately supporting Gai's theory that everything was going well. Meanwhile, Kakashi's eyes narrowed slightly, noticing immediately who the boy in the center of clearing was.

"Alright! One more time!" Naruto shouted out loud, pumping himself up as he brought his hands up making a plus sign with two fingers of each hand as he called the name of his technique.

"**Kage Bunshin No Jutsu(Shadow Clone Technique)!"** Kakashi was not the only one surprised since Gai was as well as the entire empty space was enveloped in a large plume of white smoke. As the smoke died down, Gai and Kakashi could easily count out that their were hundreds of Naruto.

Kakashi was left speechless at what he had just seen. This was not a jōnin level technique, this was taken a step further and became a kinjutsu(Forbidden Technique). Gai, however, instantly sprung into action, jumping into the crowd of clones while shouting Naruto's name.

"Naruto! Naruto! Dispel all of these clones immediately!" Gai demanded and Naruto obeyed without a moment's hesitation. All the clones vanished at once revealing one Naruto who had not moved from his original spot. He was sweating a lot and looked quite exhausted but he was otherwise fine.

"I told you to only make one clone! I told you that anymore would be dangerous! You could have died! Why would you do something so irresponsible?" Gai reprimanded his student who looked at Gai with child-like fright.

"But Gai-sensei, after I made the first clone it got so easy to make more! I made the same number of clones I just did a whole bunch of times! I'm just tired from doing it all day, but I'm just fine! If I get something to eat and some time to sleep I'll be at two hundred percent!" Naruto explained himself, not seeing anything wrong with what he had done.

"I can see that and I should have expected it, but that still doesn't mean its okay. When you make that many shadow clones, the Kage Bunshin No Jutsu(Shadow Clone Technique) becomes the kinjutsu, Tajū Kage Bunshin No Jutsu(Multiple Shadow Clone Technique). When you make a kage bunshin you split your chakra evenly among each clone, so if you separate your chakra too much you could end up at the point of death. Swear to me that you will not use the technique without caution or I will prohibit you from ever using it!" Gai lectured, Naruto paying attention closely as he always did when Gai became serious and this tidbit of information was interesting and good to know.

"Alright, Gai-sensei. I promise I won't use this technique without keeping what you have told me in mind," Naruto explained as his eyes began closing and he started slumping slightly.

"Just let me take a little nap...," Naruto finished in a rather weak and tired tone of voice before collapsing on the ground. By the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest, it was easy to determine that Naruto was completely healthy and was just recuperating from the mass expenditure of his chakra.

Gai shook his head at his student but smiled nonetheless as he picked up the blond boy and positioned him on his back. Kakashi appeared from behind the tree as Gai approached him. "He's a spitting image of Minato-sensei, isn't he?" Gai decided to comment getting a smirk from Kakashi who eyed the boy interestingly.

"I haven't accepted a genin team since I signed up for it, but I'm getting quite an interesting batch this year. As long as they all pass the Graduation Exam, I'll have a survivor of the Uchiha Clan, a kunoichi from Kumogakure and him," Kakashi remarked, pointing at the boy Gai was carrying.

Gai had an expression on his face that just said 'wow' after hearing Kakashi's potential unit. "What a youthful bunch! They outta keep ya busy, ay Kakashi," Gai commented, nudging his old friend with his elbow.

"We'll see about that," Kakashi returned with a chuckle as he waved his good-bye to Gai and disappeared in a swirl of leaves. Kakashi was outwardly lax, but Gai could sense his rival's sudden spike in interest and excitement. Gai smirked at the development before disappearing in a swirl of leaves himself.

* * *

'It's getting late. I wonder if Naruto will come back soon,' Yugito thought to herself as she looked outside at the dark night. She was currently sitting on the dining table eating a takeout tekkadon bento.

Just as that thought had come across her mind, there was two short raps at the door. Yugito instantly dropped her chopsticks and stepped to the door and quickly opened it, completely expecting to see Naruto.

Just as expected, Naruto was at the door... but he was strewn over the shoulder of a tall man wearing green spandex, orange leg warmers and a Konoha flackjacket. Yugito was confused and didn't know what to say, so it was good that the man at the door spoke first.

"Are you, Yugito Nii-san?" Yugito nodded her response and let the strangely dressed man continue.

"Naruto has told me much about you. The name is Might Gai, it's a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance," Gai greeted very politely as he outstretched the hand he wasn't using to secure Naruto towards her.

Gai radiated a Narutoesque energy that compelled to smile and shake his outstretched hand. "It's very nice to meet, Gai-san, please come in," Yugito gestured into the apartment. Gai nodded his head and gave his thanks as he stepped inside the small apartment. He looked around for a moment, taking in the sight that was his pupil's dwelling.

"So... uh...," Yugito didn't know how to begin to ask what was wrong with her roommate that was hanging on Gai's shoulder. Gai noticed her loss for words and chuckled to himself slightly.

"Naruto was hard at work mastering his cloning technique for the Graduation Exams tomorrow," Gai explained to the young lady who's eyes widened slightly, seeing that Naruto hadn't been telling the full truth when she had asked if he had mastered the required jutsu in the morning.

Gai looked around as he took a firmer grip of Naruto, signaling that he was looking for a place to drop Naruto. Yugito motioned over to the futon set up on the side of the room which Gai then moved towards and placed Naruto down on.

"I told him it wasn't necessary for him to learn the jutsu, but he was set on learning it. He said that he didn't want to be a liar," Gai commented as he stood up from his kneeling position next to Naruto's futon and walked over to the door. Yugito eye's once again widened as a small smile arrived on her face.

'That's so like you, Naruto." Yugito thought to herself as she glanced at Naruto's sleeping form before returning her attention to Gai who was waiting just outside the door.

"Thanks for dropping him off, Gai-san."

"You're very welcome, Nii-san. It was no trouble at all," Gai stated as began to walk down the balcony towards the stairs that led to the main road. Yugito took a step half outside as she waved and offered her good bye and good night.

Gai turned around and eyed her for a moment in contemplation. A smirk fell on his lips as he returned her farewell, "You know, Nii-san? From what I can see, Naruto thinks the world of you so please, do take good care and good night."

Gai finished with a bright grin before vanishing with a swirl of leaves, leaving Yugito with a light tint of pink on her cheeks and a look of confusion. Yugito stood outside for a moment in her thoughts before a cold breeze chilled her and brought her back to reality.

Yugito walked back inside the apartment and closed the door behind her as she walked through the living room. She grabbed the bento off the dining table and finished it off by the time she got to the kitchen where she dropped it off in the trash bin. Walking back out of the kitchen, Yugito glanced at Naruto as Gai's parting words returned to the forefront of her mind.

_'From what I can see, Naruto thinks the world of you.'_

'What an exaggeration,' Yugito thought to herself with a smile as she reached over to the light switch. Naruto let out a choked snore before returning to his rhythmic breathing causing Yugito to shake her head and giggle.

"Good night, Naruto," Yugito said to the sleeping blond as she flicked the lights closed and left for her bed.

* * *

"Alright, Naruto. You're up. Show me what you got," Iruka spoke to Naruto who was standing alone in the center of a square, wooden-paneled room. Naruto had gotten through the Kawarimi no Jutsu(Body Replacement Technique) and the Henge no Jutsu(Transformation Technique) quickly and to perfection. All Naruto had to do now was create a clone of himself and he would pass with flying colors.

Naruto nodded his head at Iruka's instruction, creating a plus hand seal as he called the name of his technique, "**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu(Shadow Clone Technique)!**" Just as expected the technique, a tangible Naruto appeared right next to the original. They high-fived each other in victory as Iruka's shocked expression became only more and more pronounced.

Iruka went over to the Naruto that had been created by the jutsu and poked before recoiling as if the clone would explode. Iruka then looked at the original Naruto and pointed at the clone trying to ask Naruto how and what, but it only came out as gibberish in his shock and awe.

"Gai-sensei taught me how to do it since he said the Bunshin no Jutsu(Clone Technique) was impossible for me," Naruto explained, grabbing Iruka by the shoulders as the teacher slowly calmed down after seeing his favorite student do something completely unexpected. Then again, Naruto was the type to do the unexpected.

Iruka took a few steps back to sit on the wooden table with the examination forms as he placed his right hand at the back of his hand. He shook his head thrice as he spoke, "You're always so full of surprises, aren't you, Naruto?"

Naruto chuckled in response as his clone dispersed leaving just the two of them alone in the room. Iruka put on a grin that mirrored Naruto's as he pulled out a Konoha forehead protector from his pocket instead of picking it up from the table.

"I'm very proud of you, Naruto. It's been lots of fun. You deserve this more than anyone else," Iruka commented, rising from the table and motioning for Naruto to lean forward as Iruka tied the forehead protector to Naruto's head.

Iruka finished tying the forehead protector and took a step back, waiting for Naruto to look up at him. Iruka watched as Naruto kept his head bowed slightly to the ground, his body began to shake lightly. "...Naruto...," Iruka prodded cautiously.

Something dropped from Naruto's face and hit the ground underneath him. Then another, then another. "Ya'know, Iruka-sensei... It feels like a dream... that you would do this for me when I finally graduated," Naruto spoke with a shaken voice, looking up at Iruka with tears of happiness flowing down his cheeks.

Iruka eyes narrowed slightly as his lips curved up in a small happy smile, tears threatened to fall from his own eyes. Watching his 'little brother' grow up and move on to take on the world made him both happy and sad at the same time. His teaching at the academy wouldn't be the same without Naruto there.

Iruka was then tackled to the ground by Naruto who hugged him tightly, tears still flowing. After the initial cringe of hitting the floor, Iruka returned the hug.

Shared memories between the two of them rushed through their minds as they embraced one another. All those times Naruto had pulled a prank on Iruka, Iruka chasing after him, and Iruka chastising him. All the times they had sat together eating Ichiraku Ramen while discussing a variety of things. All the laughs and smiles shared they shared.

Naruto was prepared to move on, he had known that this day would come eventually. Still, Iruka had been there for him all these years and they had seen each other everyday for the most part of the past years. Not seeing his teacher every single day would take some getting used to.

"I'll be watching, Naruto. I just know you'll be a great Hokage one day."

* * *

Over the course of the next few hours, the remaining students finished the Graduation Examination and they were all once again gathered in their respective classrooms. Here in their original classrooms they would be arranged into three man cells consisting of two boys and a girl.

Iruka had gone through Team One to Team Six and Naruto was becoming impatient. Feelings of anxiety began manifesting as he glanced at Yugito every once in awhile. Naruto wanted more than anything to be placed in the same team with Yugito and despite the increase in the probability with each team in which they weren't selected, Naruto couldn't help but worry.

Iruka could see Naruto shaking in anticipation from where he was standing. Iruka had already glanced down the form for Naruto's name and knew who his future teammates would be. Iruka smirked as he moved onto that very team.

"Team 7 will be made up of: Yugito Nii...," Iruka began watching as Naruto perked up even more than Yugito did.

"Naruto Uzumaki..." Iruka continued, but was momentarily interrupted as Naruto practically flew out of his seat, pumping his fist in the air in victory and giving Yugito a quick hug who was giggling at his exuberant reaction.

"Hell yeah!" Naruto began as he got back into his seat, leaned back in his chair and placed his feet on the table before finishing, "what's the next name on the list, Iruka-sensei, it doesn't even matter anymore."

Iruka had a smug face on when he heard Naruto's remark, it was a face that said 'You wanna bet?'.

"And the third member, Sasuke Uchiha."

Naruto fell out of his chair into a crumpled heap as Naruto shouting 'Fuck!' resounded through the room. Naruto quickly recovered and leaned forward on his desk to look past Yugito and glare at Sasuke, his face turned up in disgust. Sasuke merely glanced back momentarily before looking straight ahead, not even bothering to acknowledge Naruto anymore than that.

Yugito looked from left to right a few times as she rubbed her temples at what she would probably be dealing with for a very long time. Iruka saw Yugito's reaction and sympathized with a grimace as she would now be dealing with their rivalry instead of him. Iruka took a moment to himself to pray for the success of the team before moving on to announce the rest.

Team 8: Kiba Inuzuka, Hinata Hyūga, Shino Aburame

Team 10: Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, Chōji Akimichi

After a few more announcements, everyone in the room knew who was in their genin team. It was at this time that the jōnin leaders came into the room one by one to claim their students. The room became considerably empty as the genin were taken away three by three.

"..."

Naruto watched the minute hand of the clock hit twelve signaling that an hour had passed since the rest of the genin team were claimed by their jōnin leader. Naruto buried his face into his folded arms on the desk with a sigh of defeat. Yugito was looking up at the ceiling with a slightly annoyed expression which was mirrored by Sasuke who was looking out the window with his right cheek resting on his right hand.

A few minutes more passed before Iruka signaled that he had other duties to carry out. He offered his congratulations once again and his good bye before he exited the classroom.

"..."

Another hour went by.

"..."

Then another.

"Is this for real?!" Naruto banged on the desk angrily having long since reached the end of his patience. Even Sasuke and Yugito were at the end of their patience and shook their heads in disbelief as they stared at the door, willing it to open.

"This isn't a very good first impression. Who the hell is this guy?" Yugito wondered out loud, standing up from her chair as she arched her back and pressed her fists against it. Several cracking noises resounded through the room which was a true testament to how long they had been waiting.

Another five minutes went by.

"I swear if this guy keeps me waiting for a minute longer, I am going to blow up his h-," Naruto began his threat, but before he could finish, some heavenly deity finally decided to answer the prayer of the three genin.

The door to the classroom flew open and in stepped a tall man with silver, gravity-defying hair, a face mask and the Konoha flackjacket. The three genin were now praying that this was their long awaited jōnin sensei and not some cruel joke to raise their hopes.

The man turned towards the three graduates and looked at them awhile in turn before staying quiet for a moment longer. Naruto, Yugito and Sasuke merely eyed him back, waiting for the man in front of them to act first.

"So you three are assigned to me..." The man spoke while nodding his head, sweeping his vision over them. It was obvious to see in the man's eyes that he was bored and unimpressed.

"Hmm, how do I say this?" the man wondered to himself mostly, cupping his chin as his students waited rather eagerly for what he was about to say.

"I don't like you guys." The room was silent as the words suck in. Sasuke's and Yugito's eyes narrowed at the remark, clearly kinda pissed off.

Snap!

Sasuke, Yugito and Kakashi turned their head to where the loud noise had emanated from. Naruto's right hand was buried halfway in his desk and the wooden desk had broken and splintered around it. Naruto clearly didn't take the remark too well after having been waiting in anticipation for so long.

"The feeling is mutual, sensei," Naruto responded, the venom dripping from his words. At this rate, Naruto was going to end up going through with his previous threat.

* * *

The newly formed Team 7 had changed locations and were now at the top of a large building. The three genin were sitting on the steps that led to a balcony, Yugito in the middle with Naruto to her right and Sasuke to her left. Kakashi was in front of them, leaning on the guardrail of the balcony.

"Since this is our first time together, how about we start with getting to know each other?"

"What do you want to know?" Yugito responded to her sensei's question having calmed down the most of the three.

"Well, start with your name. Then some, hm..., likes, dislikes and your plans for the future. Here I'll start." The students looked at their teacher, curious to found out more about the mysterious man in front of them.

"My name is Kakashi Hatake. I have likes and dislikes. I haven't really thought about my future much." The introduction was less than satisfactory.

'So his name is Kakashi Hatake,' was the one actual piece of information of their teacher that the three graduates repeated mentally in unison with a sweatdrop.

"How about you go next," Kakashi spoke to Yugito who nodded her head affirmatively.

"My name is Yugito Nii. I used to like playing the shamisen, and I dislike spicy foods. One day I will become the strongest kunoichi in the world," Yugito spoke earnestly.

Kakashi made an 'oh' noise and nodded in approval. Most kunoichi Yugito's age were more interested in love, so it was a nice change of pace to hear about a kunoichi that wanted to become the strongest.

"How about you go next, blondie?" Kakashi ordered more than asked, pointing at Naruto who wasn't paying much attention. The slightly condescending tone in 'blondie' was evident as Naruto looked at Kakashi with a straight face, leaning back on his elbows.

"The name is Naruto Uzumaki. I like long cuddling sessions, candlelit dinners and moonlit walks on the beach. I hate icky things and I hope to one day sprout wings and fly through the air." Yugito was trying her hardest to keep from laughing, but couldn't help the smile. Sasuke hid it even less, snorting a laugh with a smirk on his face.

Kakashi's lips under his mask turned up in a small scowl as he looked at Naruto unamused. He then moved onto Sasuke, gesturing for him to conclude the introductions.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I don't have anything that I particularly like and a lot of dislikes. As for my plans for the future... I plan to hunt down and kill a certain someone." Naruto and Yugito looked at Sasuke a little wide eyed, not really expecting something so morbid. Kakashi frowned, having expected something like this. Wanting to avenge the death of all your loved ones was understandable. Kakashi could relate.

A brief silence swept over Team 7 before Kakashi spoke again.

"Well, now that that's over. Tomorrow we'll be starting our duties."

Yugito appointed herself as the three's representative since the other two weren't interested in communicating. "What kind of duties?"

"Well, for tomorrow we'll be doing something with just the four of us... Survival training."

"Survival training? Like what we practiced in the academy?" Yugito questioned, hoping that it wouldn't be like the academy. Most of the time she had spent at the academy felt like a total waste of time other than spending time with her classmates.

"No no, nothing that easy. This training will be significantly more difficult," Kakashi began his explanation, Sasuke and Naruto perking up quite a bit more. With both of them wanting to become stronger and stronger, the notion of difficult training excited them.

"Well, I'm calling it survival training, but what it actually is, is a test."

Naruto cringed as his first thought was a sheet of paper with a series of open response questions. "A test?"

Kakashi chuckled slightly, looking at Naruto as he spoke, "You guys are going to freak out when I'm gonna tell you this." Naruto had an expression of defeat as he thought to himself that it was definitely a written exam.

"Out of the twenty-seven graduates, only nine of you will go on to become full-fledged genin. The purpose of the academy is to see who will have the chance to become a genin, so those of you that fail this test will be sent back to the academy," Kakashi explained, drawing noises of shock from his potential students.

"What the hell! I'm going to be sent back to the academy just because I can't answer a few damn questions about survival?" Naruto shouted in disbelief, firmly believing that if he got any sort of written examination he was doomed before it even began.

A comical sweatdrop appeared on Kakashi's head as he bowed his head with a sigh. "I didn't say anything about a written examination. Being able to answer questions on a piece of paper hardly matters when you're out in the fields."

Naruto felt a wave of relief hit him while also gaining a little respect for Kakashi. He was glad that his sensei didn't believe in giving written tests. Unknowingly to him, that was Kakashi's first step into Naruto's good side.

"So what kinda test is it?" Sasuke asked, feeling impatient with Naruto's misunderstanding. It was a waste of time.

"Well, it'll be something really difficult, you guys might even lose your stomachs, but what it will be exactly is a surprise." Kakashi spoke in such a deathly tone of voice that caused chills to go up their spines.

Naruto stood up, his posture and expression was one that oozed confidence, "As long as I don't have to answer any questions one of those nine spots is definitely mine. Count on it, Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi's expression turned into a rather happy one, giving Naruto an eye smile. That was probably the first time the three teens had seen their sense lighten up since the first time they saw him.

"I want you to remember this overconfidence when your in the middle of my test tomorrow," Kakashi commented rather enjoying Naruto's spirit.

Kakashi reached into one of the pockets of his flackjacket and removed three sheets of paper. "Let's wrap this up then. All the information you need is on this piece of paper."

Naruto, Yugito and Sasuke each grabbed a sheet of paper. Naruto immediately crumpled the paper since Yugito would tell him what he needed to know and Sasuke did the same after scanning the information.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow at the designated time and place... And do yourself a favor and skip lunch." With that said, Kakashi waved a short good bye and disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

Naruto, Yugito and Sasuke all looked at the spot where their sensei used to be. Kakashi's words of warning and the consequences of failure rang through their minds... but strangely, the three genin were excited and burning in anticipation. The academy did little to challenge them, so Kakashi's test would be their first true test of skill. It was time to break out all the stops and secure themselves a spot.

'Bring it on.'

* * *

**Time for the usual ending author's note, but now I have a few more things to talk about then usual.**

**I noticed in a lot of other fanfiction that other author's got diverge from the whole "you need the sacred scroll to learn the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu", but ya'know, in the cannon, quite a few shinobi were making using the technique, so I was like, what the heck. Gai is one of the highest level jonin in Konoha, why wouldn't he know about the kage bunshin no jutsu. Even if he couldn't do it himself, he probably knew the mechanics behind it.**

**Everything that I wrote after Gai teaching Naruto the shadow clone technique was just as painful for me to write as it was for you guys to read. It was so disgustingly cannon with almost 0 originality. I feel as if you guys could tell it was lacking and that's mostly due to my own disinterest in writing it.**

**I tried to skip as much of the cannon or tedious bits like each part of the examination or the calling of names.**

**I hope I was able to possibly make you laugh at some point while reading the story to relieve you from some of the pain, and if not, I'm sorry. The next chapter is titled "Bell Test", and I won't lie to you guys. The same bell test we all know will happen, albeit with different events occurring during and after. If you make it past the bell test, the whole story from then on, deviates from the same cannon that we are always reading.**

**I feel as if the weakest part of this chapter were the parts after Naruto learning the shadow clone technique and that's most because I really didn't want to write the graduation exam process and the meeting with Kakashi wasn't as descriptive since we all know what happens. I didn't want to write too much because I knew you guys probably didn't want to read it.**

**I want to apologize if how rusty I am is evident in the chapter and I promise you that I improved a lot for the next chapter and want to say that my writing will improve the more and more I write. Actually, this was one of my first attempts at writing a dialogue that wasn't cluttered with "she said", "he stated", etc, etc. Tell me what you guys think of it, because I know its not perfect. Dialogue is something that's reoccurring in all fanfiction stories, so I need to practice making it less cluttered and more fluid and natural.**

**I also want to state as a fact, that I am much better at writing fight scenes than I am most other parts of a story and you guys will see that in the next chapter. **

**Anyways, once again, if you guys have any questions, suggestions, a like, dislike feel free to drop it in a review and I'll respond to it at the top of the next chapter. Thanks for staying with the story 7 chapters in and I hope I can hold onto your attention for many more chapters to come.**

**Have a good day/night. The next chapter will probably be out in the next 2-3 days, just like I said in the last chapter, but just keep an eye out for tomorrow just in case.**

**Till the next time I update.**

**-Reprise**


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